My Silver Lining-Malec AU

4-Job Hunting

It was Monday evening and Alec was resting after a long and tiring day when his doorbell rang. He had crashed down on his couch just a few minutes ago exhausted from the day's activities so he was greatly frustrated that he had to get up again. But he still managed to get his ass off the couch and answer the door, he would never go against his policies no matter what, only to find an overly excited Izzy on the other side.

His sister walked into the apartment with a pep in her step and made herself comfortable on the couch like she would do on any other day. Alec could only sigh as he observed his sister. His sister was excited and he knew why. It was the day he had gone job hunting and because being a high school graduate meant that he couldn't get a white collar job he jad settled for a job in a nice and cozy bookstore near his apartment. His sister didn't know that and thus was excited to know all about his day and his job.

"So?" came Izzy's excited voice which broke him out of his reverie and he finally closed the door and sat down facing his sister on the couch.

"I got a job at the bookstore round the corner." He knew such a short and simple answer wouldn't satisfy the bouncing girl in front of him but he could atleast try.

"Come on big bro, you promised details." Izzy almost whined. "I need details. I'm sure you didn't go to the bookstore first, you're not that intelligent bro."

"Hey! I managed to get more marks than you in school." He objected.

"Who cares about school? And I didn't mean all the academics stuff, I know you are better than me in that. I meant intelligence or rather knowledge regarding the real world. You have practically none regarding that, you spend your days lost in the books of that one stupid author about whom no one but you knows."

"His name is Magnus Bane and it's a shame that the world hasn't recognised such great talent. You should read his books, I'm sure it'll have you captivated." Alec defended his favourite author. That author was damn good and he won't let no one insult him, not even his sister.

"I think I'll pass. Now tell me what happened."

Alec sighed and finally gave in to his sister's wishes. He told her about his day. He had gone to a cafe first where he tried to make a latte but failed miserably and somehow managed to almost set the coffee maker on fire(he still doesn't know how he managed to do that as he can operate the one in his apartment perfectly well) and then broke the cup he was supposed to pour the liquid, which was supposed to be a latte, in. In the end he had to pay for the damages he had done and left with his hopes in edom. He had then went to a nearby restaurant and applied to be a waiter there but was again rejected. He didn't tell Izzy the reason as he didn't want her sister to act up but when he had applied for that job the manager had asked him why he needed the job. After a bit of thought he had told the truth about him being disowned but that had been the wrong decision. The moment the manager got to know about his sexuality, he was practically thrown out of there. There however had been a black haired girl named Aline waiting next in line who had heard his interview and she had angrily went to the manager and just slammed her hand down on the table so hard that a visible shiver had gone through the man's spine. She then proceeded to throw all kinds of insults towards the homophobe(sometimes quoting things Alec didn't understand) and finally when she had calmed down she had filed an official complaint against him and went out to Alec and simply smiled at him before saying, "Don't worry about him. People like him try to make people like us feel small but they rarely succeed. Don't give them the power to do so. Anyway I'm Aline and it was nice to meet you"

"Alec." He took her outstretched hand and shook it muttering a small 'Thank you'.

After that whole incident he didn't really feel like job hunting and almost gave up before he remembered Aline's words, 'don't give them the power'. So he had mustered all his hate for every homophobic person he had met including his parents and went ahead in his task.

After applying for a few more jobs at a few other places and being rejected, he finally decided to take a break and went to the bookstore. When he had reached the door he saw a hiring ad attached to the window of the shop. Alec, his hopes back up again, went into the shop and instead of going to the corner and reading a book like he had planned to do went to the front desk and applied for the job. Apparently he was the only one who had applied since the ad was put up and was accepted immediately. He was also asked to start immediately so he had already had one working day(though he had spent his day curled up in a corner reading Magnus's book. The store had his complete collection!)

Izzy who had patiently heard his account of the day burst out laughing the moment he finished. After a good ten minutes she spoke through her tears, "You are the worst barista in the world." And with that she broke into another fit of giggles.

When she had settled in she told him about her day. She had a normal school day but she had met a guy named Simon and it was clear from the way she spoke about him that she liked him. But when Alec pointed out she just straight on rejected the idea of any feelings being involved. This of course made Alec think, it was clear that Izzy liked this guy but she had denied the fact which was unusual. His sister would usually flaunt about the guys she liked and would ask them out within the week. He was the one to deny any kind of feelings, not his sister. But he didn't think very much about it and shrugged it off.

After an hour of just talking about everything and nothing with his sister, he made her go home. Before she went she had informed him that Jace was at Clary's so he couldn't come. Alec had understood. Clary had gone to her stepfather Luke's farmhouse in the weekend and thus Jace couldn't see her the entire weekend. Alec was somewhat pleased about that fact as Jace had spent it with him instead but he would never say that out loud.

After freshening up and eating he took one of his favourite author's book and went to bed. He soon drifted off thinking how can someone so talented could be so underrated.

Please vote if you liked it and I welcome all constructive criticism (just be kind please) and all comments are welcome. Thanks for reading it.