Chapter Text
Isabelle and Jace exchanged another look, before the female gave the blonde a signal with her head. Jace nodded, his expression surprisingly serious and grim, before he casually walked towards where Andrew was instructing the rookies and giving them instructions for improvement. The older male tilted his head enough so that Jace could talk to him in a hushed whisper, causing Andrew to look over his shoulder at Alec, the worry clear in his eyes. Then he nodded and cleared his throat, returning to his trainer mode and readressing the rookies to keep them occupied so they wouldn’t get involved.
Jace, obviously thankful, patted Andrew’s back, before returning to his siblings. “We are good to go. Andrew promised to take care of the trainees. He said he got it covered and wouldn’t need you around anymore for today.”
“That’s good”, Izzy cut in, her hand still on Alec’s arm. “Come big brother, let’s get out of her and get some fresh air.”
Alec, feeling too unwell to argue, just nodded and let his siblings shove him along. He knew he didn’t have a real choice anyway. Once his siblings were set on something, he had no chance at redirecting them.
The three Shadowhunters eventually ended up in Jace’s room. It was the furthest away from the bustling Institute and the one with the nicest view. The blonde immediately opened the windows to let some relatively fresh New Yorker air inside. They were lucky enough that the Institute wasn’t built near a main road and therefore the smog and the sound of cars wasn’t that much of a problem for them.
Meanwhile Izzy stirred her brother towards the spacious and made bed that belonged to Jace. All three of them settled atop the fluffy grey blanket, pulling off their shoes and most of their weapons, discarding them almost carelessly on the hardwood floor around the bed, cluttering the otherwise clean and tidy room. Jace kept his room usually very tidy. He had a workspace on which a few notebooks were scattered, a few books, mostly on demons, but some of them actual novels, where on a shelf near the desk and then there was a space for weapons, where the blonde could take care of them, meaning polishing and sharpening them. Otherwise there was a wardrobe in his room,a few framed pictures of him and his family… and Clary and not much else.
This room and the situation brought at least some comfort to Alec. This was familiar, they often huddled together, shared the evenings and spoke about the angel knew what. He was, however, not comfortable with talking about his problems, but he was very much aware that this was what was going to happen.
“So…” It was Jace, who broke the silence that had settled between them. He was leaning against the headboard of his bed, propped against the pillows and legs spread out.
“So”, Alec repeated. While Izzy was lounging on her belly, with her feet swinging in the air above her, he was sitting crosslegged and fiddling with the soft blanket.
“What’s up, Alec. You know you can talk to us about anything.” Izzy said softly. Her legs briefly stopped moving as she regarded him with her dark eyes.
“I… was taken by surprise”, at least that was somewhat the truth. A brief glance towards both his siblings told Alec however, that they were not satisfied with that answer and would continue to ask questions. He wasn’t even mad at them for it, he would do the same were their roles reversed.
“By what exactly?” Jace wanted to know. He was surprisingly patient.
“Your comment…” Alec mumbled and kept from looking directly to either one of his siblings.
Jace furrowed his brows and made a surprised noise. “Which one?”
“I think”, Isabelle cut in as it became clear that the other dark haired Shadowhunter in their group wouldn’t talk, “I think your comment about the warlock’s ‘gratefulness’ was too much for our brother.” She didn’t sound accusatory, but in fact sympathetic for Alec.
“Bro… you know it was just a joke, don’t you?” The blonde sat up straight, face worried, just as much as his voice. He even reached out to put his hand atop Alec’s, squeezing it gently in a reassuring manner.
“Oh”, was all Alec could say to that. He wasn’t sure what to think now. Had he overreacted and perhaps given himself away? Had his siblings not found out about his sexual preferences? He didn’t know and that made him mad.
“But even if”, Jace continued, giving the hand of his Parabatai another squeeze, “what about it? You’re an adult, I don’t care with whom you spent your time with and in what way.”
“What?” He asked dumbly and did look up to look at his brother in disbelief and shock.
Jace sighed and looked over at Isabelle for help. They all knew the blonde was not the best diplomat. He could be charming, there was no doubt about that, but in such matters, he was as helpless as Alec.
Izzy sighed and pushed herself up until she was kneeling on the blanket, facing the older boys. “Listen, Alec… we love you. You’re our brother. And… it was kind of obvious that you are not very fond of the companionship of other female Shadowhunters. I mean, there had been many obvious attempts to gain your interest and favour, you never reacted to any of them. You didn’t even have a single date… No offense, Alec, but it was kind of obvious.”
“Yeah”, Jace agreed. “Like… very obvious. To be honest, we debated, if you were just not interested in anything or if you’re, you know…” He fumbled for the right words.
“Gay?” Alec offered weakly. He felt sick.
Jace hummed in agreement. “Look”, it was however their sister, who took the word again, “we don’t care if you’re gay or bi or anything else, really. It doesn’t matter to us. What DOES matter to us, is your happiness. And if you’re happy with another man, then that’s fine. If you rather stay alone, that’s fine with us too. You do you. Nothing else matters” She shrugged and sounded absolutely open and honest.
“Really?” He swallowed around the lump in his throat and did look up now. “I… always thought…”
“What? That we’d be disgusted? No! Damn, you’re my Parabatai. You could have two heads and even though it would be annoying as hell to have two of you lecturing me on my recklessness, it wouldn’t change anything about the fact that you are my brother and I love you as such.”
Alec could only stare at his siblings with an open mouth and utter disbelief. How often had he pictured this exact moment and conversation and how often had he imagined the worst possible outcomes? Never in his life had he imagined that they’d just be… fine with it. And even though it was incredibly good to hear those words, to know that his siblings still had his back and loved him and were not disgusted, there was still something that terrified him. “What… about Mom and Dad?”
“Have no clue.” Izzy said.
“And we are not planning on telling them anything about either of our lovelives. Let’s be honest, bro… Izzy is well known in the Downworld and me too, if you catch my drift. They wouldn’t approve of that either. So… we just keep them in the dark. The less they know, the better.”
“Yes… that sounds… reasonable”, Alec mutters, still in a bit of disbelief.
Izzy snorted in amusement. “Don’t sound so surprised. Sometimes even Jace and I have good ideas.”
“Ey”, the blonde in question protested because of the hidden insult.
It made Alec smile. The bickering, the teasing of each other, that was familiar to him. That made him feel like everything was truly normal.
He suddenly felt stupid. How could he have ever doubted his siblings. They have been through so much together already. He should have known they would have his back in this too. He would have had their backs too. He shook his head at himself.
“Sorry Alec, but as your loving and adorable sister, I just have to keep bothering you with inappropriately personal questions.” She snickered and bumped her shoulder against his. “About this warlock…” Alec groaned, earning him another chuckle from both his siblings. “Was he hot?”
He hesitated, then sighed. Knowing he was outnumbered and knowing they wouldn’t let up now, he actually answered: “Yes…”
“Uhhhh”, Izzy’s eyes shone with mirth and even more curiosity.
“And you stayed the night with him”, Alec knew exactly what Jace was hinting at.
“No! We did none of… that.” He felt himself getting bright red, much to the amusement of his siblings. Was it punishable by the Clave to kill your annoying younger siblings? “We just… talked. And had a drink and… I kind of fell asleep.” He mumbled, embarrassed.
“Was he that boring?” Jace wanted to know with a raised eyebrow.
“No. I… he was just… I was just tired and he…”
“You felt comfortable enough in his presence to fall asleep?” The female in their group guessed correctly. She squealed in delight, when she received a brief nod as an answer. “Oh my god, Alec. That’s so sweet and romantic.” She obviously supported her big brother.
Even the blonde rolled his eyes at that. “Then what?”
“You aren’t curious at all, are you?” He muttered sarcastically with a certain undertone to his eyes, causing the other two to snicker and chuckle once more.
“Come one, you have to cut us some slack. You are usually grumpy and anti-social and this warlock obviously is the first guy to ever have caught your interest. He must be special. So yes, we are curious and we want to know every little detail.”
“Not EVERY detail, obviously”, Jace corrected.
Alec felt his cheeks begin to burn again. They would one day be the death of him, he just knew it. Was it possible to die from too much embarrassment? “He… offered me breakfast, but I refused, because-” He was cut off by his sister.
“What?! You refused breakfast with a hot warlock? Alec, how could you?”
“Because”, he emphasized the word, “I spent the night not in the Institute and you both know how Mum gets.” At least that got him approving nods. “But he walked me back home and he kind of saved my behind from Mom… by telling her I saved him, which I did and… by offering his services for free to her.”
“I’m sure he was also ogling that behind that he saved”, Jace commented with a cocky grin, earning him a laugh from Isabelle and a hit on the arm from Alec.
“Oh Alec, that must be true love. For anyone to step up to Maryse Lightwood”, she sighed dramatically. Alec wasn’t sure if she was mocking him now or if she was lost in a romantic fantasy. Knowing Izzy, it was probably the latter. “You did agree to have at least dinner or brunch or breakfast with him, didn’t you?”
“Well…”, he rubbed the back of his neck.
Isabelle’s dark eyes were chiding. “Then at least tell me you got his number.”
“Yeah, otherwise it will get hard for you to get laid… ow!” This time it was the female in the group who hit the blonde menace.
“I… actually… forgot”, Alec mumbled and his shoulders dropped. His gaze shifted back to the blanket that was slightly wrinkled from him toying with it.
“Oh…” she sounded apologetic.
“You do know his name however… right?”
Alec nodded and found himself staring into his Parabatai’s eyes. “Yeah…”
“Well? What are you waiting for? Spill it!” He edged the older male on.
“It’s”, he hesitated, then he took a breath and just sputtered it out, “Magnus Bane.”
A moment of silence passed between the three, followed by surprised faces. Then Jace exclaimed: “Wow!”
“Really? The Magnus Bane?” There was awe in Izzy’s voice. “The High Warlock of Brooklyn?”
“You’re aiming high, bro”, he chuckled, but he obviously meant well.
“But that makes it so much easier”, she turned towards Jace. “Pandemonium, the club we always go to… Magnus Bane actually owns his club and I know he’s often there. It’s perfect. We just take Alec with us and there they can reunite.”
“And share numbers”, the blonde nodded in agreement and settled back into his pillows, clearly having made up his mind and deeming their plan perfect.
“I don’t know about that”, the archer tried to protest, but he was quickly shut up.
“Come on, Alec. You’re into that guy. Why not give it a shot? And if he refuses, well, you’ll at least know and Jace and I will be there for you.”
“Yeah man, if you don’t give it a shot, you’ll never get anywhere.” Jace agreed.
Alec sighed, knowing - deep down - that they were right. He briefly closed his eyes and sent a silent prayer to whatever angel was currently watching them and then he nodded his consent. He didn’t expect the happy squeal from his sister, let alone to be tightly hugged by her. She truly seemed happy for him.