Magnus heard her coming before he saw her and retracted his hands from Alec's face. He had been lying there for a long time but it seemed like a few precious seconds. Magnus had memorized every inch of his face, every curve, even the dimples he got while smiling lightly in his sleep.

In the end he had thought it right to call Isabelle, after all she was his sister.

Sure enough, Isabelle came marching in wearing high heeled combat boots, black leather jacket and a barely knee length red skirt. Her expression was a mixture of worry and relief.

"He's better now", Magnus said, as Isabelle kept a hand on his cheek.

"Did he just fall asleep?", Isabelle asked, regaining her composure.

"No", Magnus answered, and proceeded to tell her everything.

In the end Isabelle rolled her eyes.
"Stupid Alec", she muttered.
"I'll take care of him now, thanks for being there"

Magnus was slightly taken aback as he did not expect an apology from Isabelle of all people. She must have been genuinely concerned for Alec. Her love for him had made her ditch her steely facade.

"No problem", Magnus waved, picking up his guitar case.
"I'll see you then."

Isabelle nodded and turned towards his brother and Magnus was left with no option but to walk away.

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Magnus had dropped by the next day but Alec hadn't been there and the door had been opened by a ten year old boy who looked up at him in confusion.

"Hello, who are you?"

"I'm Magnus, you must be Alexander's little brother. Alexander is teaching me guitar", Magnus smiled at the boy.

A look of indignation crossed his features.

"Alec didn't tell me! No one tells me anything!" he huffed.

"Ah pretty ignorant, I must say", Magnus barely stopped himself from smiling.
"Are you at home alone?"

The boy crossed his arms against his chest and glared at him.
"I am not an irresponsible little kid, and I am going outside soon."

"Not at all", Magnus mused.
"You seem to be very.... dangerous to me."

The boy looked at him with suspicion but his features relaxed a little.

"Well since Alec is not here and he told me he would help me pick some manga books, will you come with me?"

Magnus hesitated. He hadn't come here to spend time in a bookstore and 10 year old mundanes were really not his forte.
Which his why his words surprised him.

"Right after I get your name"

"Max", the boy smiled, and Magnus realized he had quite a few of Alec's features. Though what he was going to do with him, he did not know.

"Alright", Magnus said, trying not to sigh.
"Lets go!"

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Spending time with Max did not turn out to be that bad.

Magnus just had to buy him loads of manga magazines and the little boy wasn't able to wipe his smile off his face. Add in some ice-cream and pizza and his day was set. Magnus had been vaguely amused by the little boy's antics, all of which he would not like to delve in. Somewhere deep inside him, he knew he was doing this for Alexander.

A hour or two later they were back at the apartment and fortunately for Magnus, none of Max's protective siblings were there yet.

"Thanks for the amazing time, Magnus", Max told him as he was about to go.

Something told Magnus that he never really got much attention or importance from anyone but his siblings. 

"I'll see you around", Magnus nods, smiling at him.

"Bye!" Max waves, and Magnus could swear he could feel the boy's happiness, long past leaving the building.

_________________________________________________________________

The next day Magnus found himself welcomed by a flustered Alexander.

"Hi", he said, giving him a cute little smile.

"Uh, I wanted to thank you for...helping me...I mean...giving me the medicine-or taking care of me till Izzy arrived. I mean you called Izzy."

Alexander had twitched a thousand times by the time he got the sentence out and Magnus could not help but internally gush at his awkwardness.

"It was nothing", he waved it off.

"I met your brother yesterday", he added.

"About that..." Alexander looked up, scratching his head.

"He really liked you. Its his birthday tomorrow and he wanted to know if you'd come...I told him I would ask, but you don't really need to come... I mean if you don't want to.." he muttered.

An evening with Alexander other than a music class?

Magnus was all game for it.