War of Hearts (A Malec AU) COMPLETED ✅

Chapter 20 - Distance and Alcohol

A week had passed since Thanksgiving, and Alec had not heard anything from his family. His dad was right, he would not be hearing from Jace or Izzy any time soon, and Alec only continued to feel worse and worse. It got so bad that he went back in his mind to the days of high school, when he would be bullied, all because of Max's death.
     He would cut himself, indulge in the satisfaction the pain would bring him. It took all of the emotional pain away, and it made him feel good. Izzy or Jace never knew about it, not until later anyway.
     Dad found out, but he never really cared. He just let Izzy and Jace help Alec. It seemed to work, but his siblings were the only people Alec had. Now, he only had Magnus.
     Alec looked up when Magnus entered the spare bedroom. Alec was sitting on the floor, his back against the wall, reading a book.
     "Hey," Magnus said, taking a seat next to Alec.
"Hey," Alec replied. He closed his book and stared at his fingers.
"I was thinking, we could go for a walk in the park?"
Alec picked at his nail. "Okay."
     "That's it? A simple okay?"
Alec shrugged.
"Are you okay?" Magnus asked.
Alec nodded. "Yes, I'm fine."
"Alright. How about that walk?"
Magnus stood up and held his hand out. Alec took it slowly and let Magnus drag him to his feet. Together, they walked out the door and into the street before them.

The park bench they were sitting on was cold, and Alec winced as he sat down.
"Oh, come on," Magnus grinned. "It's not that cold."
"Understatement of the year," Alec said, resulting with a low chuckle from Magnus.
     "You get cold too easily, Alexander."
Magnus thought that for a moment he received a small smile from Alec, but it was so brief that he wondered if he had imagined it.
     They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the scenery around them. There were kids playing on some nearby swings, and two people reading books, side by side and holding hands. A family of four were sitting under a tree, having a picnic, and the birds chirped loudly. The sun shone through the clouds and lit up Alec's bright blue eyes.
     "It's a beautiful day," Alec said.
"It is," Magnus agreed.
The silence continued as the two of them sat down on the bench.
"Is it warmer now?" Magnus asked.
"Sorry?"
"The bench."
"Oh, yeah," Alec said. "It is."
Magnus smiled. "Well, is that good?"
"I guess?"
Magnus laughed.

Returning from the walk, Alec set himself up in the spare bedroom again. God knows what he was doing in there.
     Magnus was leaning on the kitchen table. He wondered whether Alec really was okay. He definitely didn't seem okay. He wasn't his usual self. Magnus wondered if Alec had actually physically hurt himself at some point in his life. Magnus couldn't let that happen, period.

Alec was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at his fingers. He didn't feel like moving, or reading, or anything. He just sat there, staring at his hands, feeling as lonely as ever.
     He sighed quietly and fell backwards onto the bed, receiving a groan from the bed frame. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

He dreamt of Max, and the pain he had suffered during that period of time. It was the worst year of his life, and it permanently damaged him. He was never the same after any of that.
     He dreamt of Izzy and Jace, and how they would help him get through everything; Max's death, the constant nagging and bullying in the hallways. They were the only ones he felt that he could open up to.
     He dreamt of his father, and how he threw Alec out of the house. He dreamt of Izzy and Jace, and how they must be feeling, as they could no longer see or speak to Alec. He dreamt of Magnus, picking him up when he was down, physically and emotionally.
     Finally, he woke up.

The hours had passed, and Magnus finally discovered that Alec had been asleep that entire time. At least he wasn't doing anything bad.
     He watched Alec sleep, and noticed how calm he always looked. All the muscles in his face were relaxed, and his long eyelashes fluttered slowly as he stirred.
     "Hey," Alec said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes groggily. "What time is it?"
"Seven at night," Magnus answered.
Alec sighed and stood up.
"Want to go out for dinner?" Magnus asked.
Alec shook his head.
"We can order pizza?" Magnus suggested.
"Sure."

The pizza arrived and the two boys sat in front of the television, eating the pizza. Magnus had four slices on his plate, but Alec only had two.
"Is that all you're going to eat?" Magnus asked.
"I'm not hungry."
"Alec, it's impossible to not be hungry! You haven't eaten anything decent since yesterday's lunch!"
"I'm not hungry."
Magnus sighed. "At least one more piece?"
     Alec finally gave in, placing another piece of pizza on his plate.
"Thank you," Magnus said.
"Whatever," Alec said, slowly biting into his pizza.
     "Well, did you sleep good?" Magnus asked awkwardly. He hated small talk.
"I guess," Alec said.
"What do you mean you guess? You should know these things," Magnus said playfully, but Alec clearly wasn't in the mood. He just continued eating the pizza, and watching the television silently.
     "Alec, you know that I will always be here for you," Magnus said.
"I know."
"Then why are you pushing me away?"
"Look," Alec began. "I don't need any help. I'm fine. Just, leave me alone, okay?"
Magnus looked over Alec's body. His eyes were slightly bloodshot, and he overly didn't seem too happy.
     "Alexander, I'll always be here for you, but I can't be here for you if all you do is push me away."
"Then don't bother. I'm not going to be opening up any time soon."
"But Alec, let me help you."
     "I DON'T NEED YOUR FUCKING HELP!" Alec screamed. "My family is falling apart, hell, it already has! I can't even talk to my own siblings anymore. I don't need your help! I can manage all of this shit just fine on my own."
"Clearly you can't," Magnus said softly. "Alec, please. Let me help you."
"No."
and with that, he stood up and left the apartment.

Alec sped through the crowded streets of New York. He had drawn his hood up and held his hands in his pockets, staring directly at the floor in front of him. The cold air chilled his face, and he let himself loose in it. It was true, he was feeling all of the emotional pain, and becoming even more distant with every passing day.
With Christmas a rough three weeks away, Alec had no idea what he would do. He couldn't go home, he was kicked out. He lived at Magnus's, but sometimes you just had to get out. With Magnus being overly protective, it would be a lot easier if Alec just stayed away for the rest of the night.
He walked into a nearby pub, where he sat at the bar and ordered a whisky. He needed to wash down his sorrows, now that he was old enough to drink.
The bartender handed him the drink, and he downed half the glass within two sips. He finished it off and ordered a bourbon. He finished that drink relatively fast as well, and soon, he had finished five drinks.
The dizziness of it all was kicking in as he sat at he bar, pondering about his life. He was slowly but surely becoming drunk, and he knew deep down inside that he should stop, but he couldn't.
He ordered a bottle of beer and drank it in five minutes. By the end of the night, Alec was completely drunk. He paid for the drinks, and stood up from the bar. Swaying, he exited the bar and stood on the curb, flailing his arms around awkwardly in the hopes of catching a cabbie's attention. Finally, a taxi pulled up in front of him.
"Where to?" the driver asked.
"M-Mango's Apartment," he slurred.
"Mango's? Could you be more specific?" the cabbie driver asked.
"My boyfriend's apartment," Alec slurred, slumping back in his seat. In the end, Alec managed to get a picture of the building up on his phone, so the cabbie took him to the apartments.
Alec got out of the cab and paid the driver exceedingly (he was too drunk to count the money properly), and made his way up the stairs and to Magnus's front door.
"MANGO!" Alec yelled, banging on the door. "MANGOOOOOO, LET ME IN!"
The door was opened by a flustered and tired eyed Magnus. He was wearing his blue silk pyjamas and his eyes widened when he saw Alec, and the state he was in.
"Mango!" Alec said, stumbling into the room. "I had too m-much to driiiink," Alec exclaimed.
"Alec, how could you do this to yourself? How did you even manage to get back here? You're so drunk it's not even funny."
"I'm cleverrrrrrrr," Alec said. "Cleverness is a- a c-chicken who... OH PIZZA!" Alec said, running towards the left over pizza on the kitchen counter.
"Okay," Magnus said. "Now you're not even making sense."
"I cleverrrrrr."
"Sure," Magnus said. "Let's get you to bed..."
"I not tired!" Alec whined.
Magnus sighed. "You will be, trust me."
Magnus guided a very drunk and crazy Alec to their bedroom where he sent Alec into the bathroom to get dressed into his pyjamas.
"Dream, Dream, DREAM!" Alec sang from the bathroom.
If it weren't for the fact that Alec was like this because of his complications, Magnus would be face palming right about now. Instead, he wanted to send Alec to sleep and cry in frustration. Why was Alec being so stubborn.
Finally, Alec came out of the bathroom wearing his pyjama pants backwards. Magnus sighed and ushered Alec over to the bed.
"Lay down," he said.
"Whyyyyyyyyy?" Alec asked, but he did it anyway, lying down on the bed. Magnus tucked him in awkwardly and watched as Alec fell asleep. He then climbed back into the bed next to Alec and fell asleep. He was out like a light.