The inside of the Lightwood Townhouse looked like Blue and White had thrown up on it, at least to Alec. Instead of decorating the house in Max's St. Xavier's Crimson and Gray school colors, Robert and Maryse thought it fitting to decorate in 'Columbia Blue' and white, the school colors of Columbia University. There were streamers, balloons, and even cut-outs of the mascot, Roaree the Lion, that were hanging around the living and dining rooms. Alec was wearing a pair of black dress pants, and a 'Columbia Blue' cashmere sweater with a white button up dress shirt underneath with light blue stripes on it.

Max's graduation party was in full swing, with Lydia catering of course, and some of the wait staff that Alec hired for the bistro working the party as a side event for extra income. But Alec was thinking in terms of giving his wait staff as much practice as possible before the restaurant opened next month. Alec even had Emma make the cake, and she was going to be the one cutting and plating it for the servers. Always best to practice on family instead of customers.

There were so many people celebrating Max's accomplishment, from his grandparents - on his mother's side, of course - to all of Max's friends from school. Cat, Ragnor and Raphael were there for Max too. He'd expected with everything going on that Magnus wasn't going to come, therefore Alec was truly surprised at Magnus' appearance. Alec remembered Max inviting him, but never for a second had he expected Magnus to show up.

Alec really didn't know how to feel about it. Was Magnus finally getting his head out of his ass? Was he here to make up and fix everything, or was Alec being overly optimistic. Maybe this was some sort of cruel joke? Being in the same room with him, but not speaking sounded to Alec like the ingredients of the worst day ever. Shaking away the unwanted thoughts, Alec, being the proud brother he was, decided to stay glued to his baby brothers side all evening. If this was a cruel joke he wouldn't give Magnus the satisfaction, and if this was just Magnus being nice Alec wasn't gonna stress himself out about it. Instead he watched Max open all of his gifts, smiling at his brother's smile.

Keeping with the Columbia University theme, Alec and the rest of his siblings all purchased Max CU apparel as gifts. That kid was going to have enough t-shirts and sweats to last him a lifetime, or at least a good couple of years. Raphael got Max a CU travel coffee mug and a thermal water bottle, as well as a shower caddie fully stocked with everything Max could need including shower shoes. Ragnor and Cat got him a new pair of air pods so he could listen to music while studying in public places without disturbing other people, and Magnus got Max a multi device fast charger that'll charge up to four devices at once.

Gideon, walked up with nothing but smiles as he handed Max an envelope that distinctly looked like a card. Max smiled, and thanked his cousin as he opened it to reveal what Alec could only assume was a gift card of some kind.

"I went ahead and loaded your meal card with enough money for your first semester. Thankfully Ivy League schools know how to feed their students," Gideon chuckled. "At least we know you're not going to starve while in school."

"As if Alec would ever let me starve," Max snorted, causing Alec and Gideon to laugh.

"You're probably right about that," Gideon agreed.

"At least I can go ahead and cancel my ongoing delivery schedule to Max's dorm room. I don't have to worry about feeding him every night," Alec joked, causing Max to pout.

"Oh come on!" Max exclaimed, playing along with the banter. "You could at least bring me midnight snacks during exam time. The food hall doesn't stay open all night."

"Relax Max. Alec's already recruited me to make you baked goods every week," Emma chimed in while she was bringing out his cake. "I've already got a list of your favorite treats."

"Yes," Max exclaimed, fist pumping the air. All of the guests around them laughed at his antics. "But thanks Gid, this really means a lot."

"You're welcome," Gideon replied with a smile.

As soon as the cake was in view Maryse squealed in delight. Emma had outdone herself with the Columbia theme. It was four tiers high. The bottom tier was light blue, with a darker blue fondant shaped into the New York City Skyline. The third tier was white with light and dark blue fondant stars placed on it, the second tier was light blue with a white and blue CU on the front, and the top tier was light blue with the mascot laid out on the top. Alec and Emma had worked together on creating the design for the cake, but Emma turned the design into a reality that made Alec proud to call her his patissier.

Once the cake was cut and distributed Alec's gaze kept going towards Magnus. He was currently talking to Robert and Maryse, seemingly in a lighthearted conversation.

"You should go talk to him," Max stated, surprising Alec since he walked away a few minutes prior to talk to one of his friends.

"Nope," Alec shook his head. "Today isn't about my issues. It's about your graduation."

"And for my graduation I want my oldest brother to put this shit behind him and either make up with his boyfriend, or move on. I'm tired of seeing you hurt, Alec."

"I'm not going to potentially cause a scene at your party Max. It can wait," Alec gave his baby brother a stern look indicating that he was done with this conversation.

True to his word, Alec made sure that he stayed away from Magnus. He was trying to do the right thing and give Magnus the space he'd requested, but as Alec's eyes constantly trailed his boyfriend?, ex-boyfriend?, it became increasingly hard to ignore the elephant in the room, especially since Alec's parents still didn't know about their fight. In fact, Robert and Maryse seemed to have pulled Magnus aside to introduce him to relatives. Alec's eyes never left Magnus as the man smiled, shook hands, and received hugs from his grandparents. Alec had no idea what the conversation entailed, but he could see that Magnus was clearly uncomfortable even if other people couldn't see it.

After a few pleasantries it appeared that Magnus made some excuse to Alec's grandparents and moved back over towards his friends.

With lack of anything else to do Alec moved around the house checking on his servers.

"Oh Alexander," Alec heard the voice behind him. Smiling he turned to face his grandmother.

"Hi Grandma, are you having a good time?" Alec bent down and hugged the woman, even though he'd greeted her when she'd arrived.

"I'm having a marvelous time sweetheart. I met that boyfriend of yours," she replied, causing Alec's heart to skip a beat. "He seems wonderful, and he speaks so highly of you and Max especially. I can tell that he cares a great deal about you."

"He does," Alec's heart clenched as he spoke. Alec certainly wasn't going to tell his grandmother that his relationship was anything but perfect at the moment.

"He seems like a keeper, Alec," grandma placed an arthritic hand on his cheek. "Don't let that man go."

"Yes ma'am," Alec responded with a wobbly smile.

"And stop being embarrassed about this talk. I may be old, but I'm a hip grandmother who knows how to keep up with the times. I don't mind you being with a man, as long as you're happy, that's all that your grandfather and I care about," she must've taken his lack of response as him being uncomfortable - which he was - but for completely different reasons than what she assumed.

"I know grandma," Alec bent down and placed a kiss on her head in which she took as the end of their heart to heart. Then she left him alone with his thoughts as he made his way back over to Max and his friends from school.

Alec watched as Magnus left the crowd of people and moved towards the direction of the library. He and Max were currently engaged in a conversation with some of Max's friends.

"It's so cool that you graduated early, but I'm still pissed that you didn't tell us," Sam, a friend who was on Max's Fencing team said. "We could've done something special for you during our Senior Banquet at the end of season. Instead you just didn't say anything."

"That's because he wasn't going to take all of the glory away from the other seniors," a boy with golden blond hair, and light blue eyes said.

"Thank you, Elliott," Max piped in.

As Max turned to thank his friend he must of caught a glimpse of Alec's face. Then he was following Alec's gaze to see what he was looking at.

"I don't care if you make a scene at my party," Max whispered. "Go! Talk to him, Alec. Magnus can't avoid you forever. This isn't healthy."

Finally giving in, Alec sent his brother a wary smile, then proceeded to follow Magnus.

Alec reached the opened french doors of the library and took a deep breath. Magnus, with a drink in hand, was looking through all of the book cases on the far side of the room. Silently, Alec entered the room, closing the doors behind him.

"Magnus," Alec started, turning away from the closed doors to face the man who invaded his mind constantly. "It's been two weeks, you need to talk to me."

"I don't have to do anything, but pay taxes and die," Magnus deadpanned, giving Alec a stern look in the process. "But if you want to talk, fine, we'll talk." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked unimpressed towards Alec.

"I want to know what's going on in that mind of yours. Everything was fine, then suddenly, you blow up over something stupid! As far as I knew, our relationship was rock solid, but bam! You exploded over something trivial. What's going on Magnus?" Alec took a deep breath, then continued. "Did your previous relationships really screw you up that much?"

Magnus sent Alec a dark look, and Alec immediately realized two things; one, Alec hit the nail right on the head, and two, he probably shouldn't have made the comment to begin with. He knew he was being insensitive, but Alec was beyond frustrated.

"Do you really want to know what my problem is?" Magnus' voice raised, and Alec prayed that the party guests couldn't overhear their discussion. "My problem is you! You came into my life with so much baggage that you're weighing me down. First it was 'poor me, my brother and sister don't like me', then it moved to your constant bitching and complaining about your restaurant. Alec, you don't seem to grasp the concept that life is hard, and instead of bitching about everything, change it! You drag everyone around you down without even realizing it.

"You don't see me whining about how stressful my job is do you? And unlike you, I have an international business to run. Try managing record labels that are in every major city in every major country. All you have is one tiny little bistro that isn't even opened yet," Magnus smiled, but it was a smile that Alec had only ever seen once before. This smile looked just like the condescending smile that Magnus gave Alec all those years ago in high school on the day that he outed Alec.

"You know, Alec," Magnus emphasised. "I finally see what your one ex was referring to, all you ever do is complain. I can see why he left you."

That felt like a slap in the face to Alec making a raging inferno boiled in his gut.

"Fuck you, Magnus," Alec put up a cocky facad. "You clearly have so many issues going on in that head of yours, that you're projecting them onto me then doing whatever you can to hurt me. But you know what, it's not going to work on me. Here's what's going to happen. Until you can work out your issues, we're done. I'm not going to subject myself into staying in an abusive relationship. Get your shit together, and if I'm still available, I might consider taking you back. But as it stands right now, you've fucked up what seems to be the only stable relationship you've ever had."

With that, Alec walked out of the library maintaining - what he hoped - was a neutral expression. When he caught sight of his siblings, he made a beeline towards them.

"What happened?" Izzy was the first to speak, looking at him with concern. Clearly his neutral expression wasn't all he'd hoped it to be.

"I broke up with him," Alec gave a watery smile. "He didn't want to admit that he was being completely irrational so I called it quits."

"Oh, Alec," Clary snaked her arms around his torso. "I'm so sorry."

"I'll get over it," he assured them all, as much as he tried to reassure himself. "But today isn't about me, we need to celebrate Max's graduation."

Alec had always been honest with Magnus throughout their entire relationship, but today when he said that Magnus couldn't use Alec's insecurities against him, he had lied through his teeth.

If Magnus had wanted to hurt him, he'd done a fine job. On some level Alec knew he deserved better than to be Magnus' emotional punching bag, but he felt very small after experiencing the man he loved throwing a knife at the weakest point in his armor.

~oOo~

So... that just happened. Don't kill me! It'll get better soon, I promise. Let me know what you guys thought of the chapter.