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The first time Alec Lightwood went to a pride parade, it was a complete accident.
He had been at a concert with his three best friends, Lidia, Aline, and Lily.
Upon exiting into the summer air, the first thing Alec noticed was the crowd of people marching down the street. Sure, Manhattan was usually extremely crowded, but this was quite a large crowd even for city standards. And the people, they were so colorful.
In hindsight, maybe he should’ve realized then what was going on. After all, it's not as if he had never heard of Pride. He had just never gone to an event himself. Honestly, it was probably because he was expecting more out of a Pride parade than just a bunch of colorful people marching through Manhattan. It hadn’t been until he’d seen the banner, and the very sparkly man carrying the banner, that he realized what was going on.
The banner was huge and almost as glittery as the beautiful man carrying it, which was really saying something because the man looked as if he had taken a bath in glitter. At the top of the banner, there were designs of all the various pride flags that seemed to have been hand painted with glitter. The bottom had “there's no better time to be who you are!” written in big sparkly letters.
Alec was mesmerized. By the banner, of course, not the extremely hot man carrying it. Alec was an artist, so of course he couldn’t help but notice how professional the art on the banner looked. That was all. That was why he started following the man, to get a better look at the details of the art. And maybe, if he also happened to get a better look at the man carrying it, well… so be it. His eyes could appreciate both views.
“Come on, Alec,” whined Aline, “we have been walking for at least ten minutes.”
“Can you just admit that you’re not looking for food and that you’re just trying to stare at the sexy glittery man walking in front of us?” added Lily.
“I am not,” muttered Alec, directing a glare at Lily. “None of these restaurants have what I'm looking for right now.”
“Suuuuure…” said all three girls in unison, turning to Alec with matching looks of disbelief.
Alec just continued walking faster.
“Alec!” Aline yelled, catching up to him. Her voice got softer as she reached him and she squeezed his arm comfortingly. “Look, I know from experience how difficult it is to tell yourself it's ok to feel the way you do after years of telling yourself the opposite. But your parents aren’t here to tell you what to do anymore, and if you want to talk to that man, you should. Look, I’m not going to force you to talk to him. I just wanted to remind you that if you did want to talk to him, or any man for that matter, you wouldn’t be wrong. Your feelings are valid, Alec.”
Alec leaned down to give Aline a hug. “Thanks,” he said softly. “I guess I really needed that.”
"That's what I'm here for," Aline replied. “I am the rational lesbian to your gay Disaster.”
“I wouldn't say rational lesbian," Alec said with a laugh. “But seriously," he said, turning to face her, "I really appreciate having someone who gets it. And you know what? I think I will go talk to him."
Aline pumped her fist in the air. "Yes! Go get your man!"
Alec started walking over to the stranger. Looking back briefly, he saw that Lily and Lydia had caught up to Aline. Seeing him looking back at them, Aline smiled at him, Lydia gave him a thumbs-up, and Lily started blowing kissy faces at him. Their reactions gave him the confidence to continue walking forward. He knew at least that if something went wrong, he would always have them to support him.
“Hay." Alec said, very awkwardly reaching the man.
Wow, that was a horrible start. He probably thinks you're weird, Alec thought to himself.
The man, however, just smiled at him. "Hey, yourself. I was hoping you would finally come and talk to me."
"You were?" Alec asked in shock.
"Sorry, was that too much? It's just, I saw you watching me, and You Are really good looking. And well, I'm a sucker for a pretty face, especially one as pretty as yours. But you seemed shy, and I didn’t want to scare you off cause I can sometimes come off too strong. Kind of like right now.”
Alec’s brain could only register one thing. "You think I have a pretty face?" he asked.
“Yeah,” the man said as if it was obvious. "Have you not seen yourself? You are like everyones fantasy man come to life.”
Alec was surprised. He never considered himself to be particularly good looking. And this man, he was the epitome of good looking. How could a beautiful man like that think Alec was in any way attractive?
The stranger seemed to take Alec’s silence as an invitation to continue talking. "Magnus Bane by the way, I realized I forgot to introduce myself in all my rambling."
That finally broke Alec out of his shock. "I’m Alec, Alec Lightwood," Alec replied shyly.
"Well, Alec Lightwood," said Magnus, taking Alec’s hand, “how would you like to go on a date sometime?”
Alec smiled at him. “I would really like that.”