Chapter Text
Note: So when I saw Harry Shum Jr perform 'Scream' in the third season of the GLEE I told a friend that with that makeup and clothes he would make an interesting Magnus Bane. Now, years later, he will play that character on TV…and the pictures of him inspired me to write another MI fanfic after all these years.
Dressing For The Ball
Alec would be the first to admit he was nothing special, either in looks or personality. According to those closest to him he was beyond help when it came to his attitude, bit if he were to spend a couple hours every day in front of a mirror and willingly blow obscene amounts of money on clothes like his sister, he could apparently be hot. At least according to his looks and clothing obsessed sister when she was trying to dress him up like her own personal Ken doll, but Alec was most definitely not willing to spend that time and effort on something as stupid as his appearance. Not to mention the fact that the days when he could be bribed into playing dress up with Izzy were long gone. No cookie in the world was worth revisiting that torture, especially since he no longer had to live with her. So yeah, all cookies aside, not even his desire to get laid was incentive enough to go to all that trouble in Alec's much vocalized opinion. Plus even if the clothes, styling, and possible attitude adjustments managed to get him somewhere with a guy he'd actually want to sleep with, it wouldn't be him the other man wanted to have sex with. It would be a fake version of himself, and Alec was not that desperate. Or at least not yet.
And okay, if it would get him someone like Magnus Bane Alec was willing to admit that he would be a little tempted, but even a thorough makeover wouldn't be enough to stand a chance there.
Which was why Alec fully acknowledged that he was being an idiot as he stared down at the piece of paper in front of him and wondered, in some corner of his brain, if this was what Charlie Bucket had felt when he removed the chocolate bar wrapper and discovered the Golden Ticket along with the chocolate. Though in this case what he was holding was simply an invitation to an end of fall term party, not an exclusive invite to a chocolate factory he'd been obsessed with visiting when he was six.
Six year olds, Alec thought dryly, didn't realize the insane creepiness of Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka. And don't even get him started on the Johnny Depp version.
But Alec did still feel like he'd won one of the Golden Tickets even though he hadn't won this invite either, technically. His sister had laughed when she'd thrown the party invite at him after finding it in her very full purse over lunch earlier. Isabelle wasn't interested in going to it, she had plans with her latest boyfriend, and she'd done it as a joke since from her point of view he'd never go. Hell, she'd probably expected him to throw it out for her because she was just that lazy. They both knew that he liked parties about as much as broken bones after all. Especially her type of party, which this so was.
But this party was right up the alley of Magnus Bane, who two days ago had once again been dumped by his queen bitch of an on and off again girlfriend Camille. Which meant, temporarily at least, the man who was at the top of Alec's list of guys he'd like to cash his V card with was single. And boy did he fucking want to cash that in ASAP.
This was a once in a lifetime chance, the breakup plus the ticket he held guaranteeing that he could get into an exclusive party that Magnus would be at because it was being hosted at his loft, and break up or not the man tended to party particularly hard when he was depressed anyway for reasons Alec had never understood. Of course he got depressed going to parties, especially given the fact that the reason he was usually at one was either to retrieve a member of his family or because said family member had dragged him to it because it would be 'fun'.
See the problem was that Alec had spent his teen years watching Jace and Izzy go through girls and guys like they were at an all you can eat buffet. He loved them both, don't get him wrong, but the idea of using someone for sex or a bit of fun and then tossing them aside turned Alec's stomach. He'd been the one fielding phone calls to the house or required to very awkwardly hug and comfort Jace's cast offs when they finally realized Jace was done with them. Had dumped them and moved on like they were nothing, because before Clary that had pretty much been the fate of every girl Jace had dated. And if that hadn't been bad enough he'd also been obligated to get into arguments and physical altercations with guys who bad mouthed his sister for dumping them once she'd had her fun too. Sometimes he'd privately thought the guys were justified in some of what they said, but she was still his sister and brothers were obligated to defend their sisters' honor even when he knew she didn't have any in the chastity department. And probably hadn't for a while. Shudder. Add in the fact that both Jace and Izzy were ridiculously popular with people while Alec was the polar opposite in personality…they'd left shoes too big and deep for him to ever hope to fill in the social area even if he was the oldest.
So yeah, all that crap, on top of dealing with his own sexuality and basically looking after his siblings' lives because their parents were never around…well it was no wonder to Alec that he hadn't gotten laid in high school really. He'd been too busy cleaning up after the relationships of everyone else.
"But now I don't have an excuse, do I, Church? I'm not living with them anymore even if I am still cleaning up after them sometimes. I've accepted that I'm gay, and I finally got it into my stupid head how stupid my crush on Jace was so that's not holding me back anymore. Plus I'm in college, living alone except for you, and God but I need to get laid soon."
Staring back at him Alec's black cat nodded in agreement, like he really could understand every word Alec was saying. Which, for the feline's sake, Alec hoped wasn't true, since he unloaded his emotions and thoughts on the poor thing on a regular basis for years now. And he'd talked about Magnus a lot since he'd met the other man last spring.
Talked, fantasized, and dreamed about the other man even though Alec knew that at the end of the day he was more likely to turn straight than he was to date someone like Magnus Bane, much less the infamous man himself. And since he'd spent his teenage years pretending not to be gay in the hopes that he could change who he was…yeah, not a chance in hell he was straight. But he was too drab, ordinary, and unsocial for someone as flamboyant, outgoing, and sexy as Magnus even on his best day and Alec knew it.
They didn't have anything in common, and Alec was willing to admit that he wouldn't know what to do with Magnus even if he had him. At least for long. He had some definite, well thought out and engraved in his mind scenarios about what he would do with Magnus for a night if he ever got the chance. Or even just an hour if that's the best he could hope for. Which was why this invite…well it could give him that small chance.
Because the thing about this party was that it wasn't your typical college drinking and doing drugs fest. It was a masquerade party which meant that everyone would be dressing up in disguises. No one would look like themselves tonight unless their costumes were really bad or the person was somehow distinctive. Like Magnus. Alec was sure he'd know the man no matter what he was wearing. There was just no one with a presence like Magnus, not to mention the man had a style that was…uniquely Magnus for lack of a better word. But regardless of that the costumes everyone would be wearing meant that if he went he could be someone else for a night. He could buy a costume, disguise himself for a night, and be…not Alec Lightwood.
So this was his chance and damn if he wasn't going to take it.
)
And so it was that Alec found himself in his bedroom two days later, staring at himself in his full length bedroom mirror and feeling like a total fool. He looked ridiculous. What the hell had he been thinking? He could not go out in public looking like this. If someone ever found out and told Izzy or Jace, which would total happen because together the two probably knew almost everyone who was going to the party, the two of them would never let him live this down. And given that this was the media age, odds were they'd have photos to rub in his face too.
At his feet Church made a disgusted sound, Alec's shoulders automatically hunching in response.
"All right, all right. I'm going, I'm going."
Hands coming up to once again fiddle with the mask, it had to stay in place for the night and he was terrified it wouldn't, Alec tried to tell himself that he was just being too harsh about his looks. People, though mainly his mom, said he tended to do that. Maybe he didn't look too bad. His arms were pretty ripped from archery after all. And the rest of his body was in much better shape that a lot of guys' around campus if he did say so himself. Especially compared to to the newbies who had already put on their freshman fifteen. So even if he looked stupid in his current getup, at least his superior to many's body was on display.
He wore very, very tight black leather pants, a gag gift from Jace after he got his motorcycle license. He'd never worn them outside his bedroom before, and he'd actually grown so they were tighter than they had been a couple years ago, but they still fit and were the 'edgiest' black pants Alec owned. He couldn't wear his church clothes after all, and the only other black pants he had were workout clothes or sweats. So he was stuck with the leather pants.
And at least he loved the shirt he was wearing if nothing else. Not that he wore it normally either, Alec acknowledged as he smoothed it down. It wasn't his style so to speak, Alec he loved how the short sleeved silk shirt felt against his bare skin. Plus it was black too, which was a prerequisite in this case for his costume. And maybe it classed up his look too. Hopefully. His black church shoes were pretty dull looking after all. But Magnus liked guy who were shorter than him, so his usual boots weren't a good idea. He and Magnus were too close to height if they were bare foot. Or at least he thought so. He'd never seen Magnus in footwear that didn't increase the other man's height somehow.
Turning his attention back to studying himself in the mirror, Alec took a moment to marvel at how weird it was to have his hair all slicked back too since he was used to having it hanging down in his face. But he'd been warned what would happen if his hair made contact with the spirit gum crap he was using to hold his mask in place, so using hair gel and bobby pins had definitely been the lesser of the two evils.
The black cat mask ended just above his mouth, the mask a little too small for his face technically but that just meant the odds of his hair being a problem were lessened so he didn't mind that. Plus the cat ears were attached to it, which was a definitely bonus because there had been no way in hell he was wearing a headband with cat ears. The tail and black leather collar were bad enough.
The finishing touch to his costume was the slitted, gold cat contacts that would cover up his distinctive blue eyes. Or at least the one time he'd met Magnus the other man had actually commented on them, so Magnus could possibly remember them. Not likely…but there was a chance.
Church rubbing against his pant leg jolted Alec out of his musing about his looks or lack thereof, Alec grateful enough to crouch down to give his cat's ears a good rub before he straightened up again.
"Since you're as close to a fairy godmother as I've got…do you think I'm ready for this?"
A dark look.
"Right. Fairy catfather."
A regal nod.
Thinking but not saying that it was the cat's weirdness that had led to his parents insisting he take Church to college with him instead of leaving him at home, Alec shrugged it off and thanked Church for the feedback.
Enough stalling. He needed to man up here.
Leaving his bedroom Alec headed into his living room, snatching up the coat he'd bought just for this occasion since he'd needed one with a hood, and it was rather cool looking if he did say so himself. Or sick…that was probably more current. Or chill. He'd started hearing that more from Izzy and Jace's friends. Whatever.
Tugging the hood up to cover his face and put it in shadows, he'd rather avoid people asking him why he was dressed up like a cat just days before Christmas, Alec headed out after double checking again that in his pocket he had his keys and some money for a cab. He wasn't risking any ID on his person, and it wasn't like he was going to get carded at the party, but the other items were necessary.
Confirming that the were there Alec said one last goodbye to Church and then locked up and headed for the elevator, taking the short ride down with barely restrained fear.
When he got to street level it didn't take long for Alec to get a cab, there were plenty of them around thanks to the abundance of students living in the area. It was a weekend after all, so most of his fellow students were either going out drinking or needed a ride because their exams had rendered them incapable of going anywhere on their own steam. He'd been in pretty crappy shape yesterday, but he'd slept most of the day to make sure he was up to tonight.
Settling back into his seat after giving directions Alec turned his attention to reviewing his plan for the evening in his head, mentally preparing to the best of his ability.
He was disguised as Magnus's favorite animal and wearing clothes that weren't old, torn, or baggy. And for a few hours he could pretend to be someone else. Someone who, if not smooth, because Alec knew himself well enough to know he couldn't pull that off, but he was hoping to at least be charming enough to attract Magnus's attention for a time. Even just an hour would be great. He had lines ready, ones that he'd never come up with on the fly, and his response when Magnus asked for a name, which he probably would, was pretty good if Alec did say so himself.
So really he was as prepared as he possible could be considering that Magnus was as much about chaos as Alec was about order. Hopefully his guardian angel and fairy catfather were looking out for him tonight.
)
Magnus was bored out of his mind as he lay sprawled out on his couch, watching the party going on around him. Not even the loud music playing and all the people currently crammed into his loft were enough to at least take his mind off the fact that he just wanted to drink a bit more and then turn in for the night. Alone. Which was not going to happen for a number of hours since the party was really just getting started and he couldn't just kick them all out like he wanted to. Well he could, and it was tempting, but he'd promised his friends his space and he was a man of his word. Most of the time.
Just because Camille had shown up to the party with some musclebound bastard…God dammit!
Magnus had to work hard to rein in his desire to throw his glass into the nearest wall.
And the worst part was that he wasn't even that surprised. Seeing that she'd already replaced him, this was the sort of slap he'd been given plenty of times. And even knowing that soon she'd get sick of her new boy toy, and would come back to him…well he was currently at the stage where he was disgusted with himself, knowing that he would take her back. Always took her back because he was just that pathetic and…
Who the hell was that?
The man, and oh baby was he a man, was not someone Magnus knew. And Magnus took personal pride in being able to say that he knew everyone worth knowing. Not to mention the fact that this party was by invite only, and he'd hired a bouncer just for the occasion since that had been a requirement from his landlord after the last party he'd hosted had gotten just a little bit out of control. So the yummy looking man dressed as a black cat had to have an invite even though he definitely was not the type of guy who normally hung out with the sort of guests Magnus currently had milling around him. And okay, technically he was hosting the party for a friend who didn't have the space for a party of this level, and therefore there were people here Magnus didn't know, but this guy…there was just something about him that made Magnus think of an island surrounded by a storm. All the other people were in motion and making huge amounts of noise and crashing into each other, but this lone figure was motionless save for minute turns of his head as he took in everything around him like he was searching for something. Or someone, perhaps?
And since sitting here wasn't going to get him answers about this strange creature in his land, Magnus slowly got to his feet with definite intent, his movements or the fact that he was staring apparently enough to catch the other man's attention.
Because the man in question was now staring at him.
)
Any suggestions for Magnus's costume? I'm open to all ideas.