Brothers and Sisters

Artistry

It had been a quiet week for the people living at the New York institute. There had been no threats, no demons, nobody attempting to penetrate the wards, and no arguing whatsoever. Typically, there would be at least one person from the group that would attempt to lighten the mood with some argumentative banter, but this week everyone was taking the time to enjoy by themselves and with their loved ones.

Alec, like every other week, had been at Magnus' almost every day, only coming home for a few hours each afternoon. It was now Thursday, and Clary had been holed up in her studio for most of the week, only coming out to spend time with the others, eat, sleep and shower. It was good for the four young Shadowhunters to relax for a while, given that the fact that their lives were constantly in danger.

On Friday, Izzy had barged into Clary and Jace's room early in the morning and practically dragged Jace out of bed, claiming that he needed to go to the mall with her, but anyone knew that Izzy just wanted Jace to carry her purchases. Begrudgingly, Jace had climbed out of bed, leaving Clary to sleep peacefully as she had been working in her studio until the early hours of the morning.

When Clary had finally awoken that morning, it was because someone was knocking on her bedroom door. She used her hand to touch the other side of the bed, expecting to find Jace so he could get up and tell whoever it was to go away, but instead, she found the bed empty. Sighing, Clary rolled over and called out to see who it was.

"Who is it?"

Instead of answering, the door creaked open and Alec popped his head in.

"Hey, long time no see." Clary threw the covers off and stood up, grateful that she'd worn pyjamas before going to bed last night.

Alec's cheeks flushed, and Clary smiled.

"What's up?" Clary asked, gesturing for Alec to come into the room. He did, closing the door and sitting on the armchair that was in the corner of her and Jace's room.

"I haven't seen anyone in a few days. I came back to see whether Jace wanted to train but he's not here." Clary nodded, remembering that she was the only person in the bed when she woke.

"Where did he go?"

"When I called to see where he was, he was too busy complaining about Izzy making him carry her shopping bags to tell me when he was coming back." Alec smirked, probably thinking about Izzy forcing Jace to carry each thing she purchased.

"Well, I was wondering what your plans were for today? I figured that you and I could do something, given that Jace and Izzy are both occupied." Clary's eyebrows rose in surprise, Alec and her spending time together just the two of them when they weren't out being Shadowhunters was not a common occurrence.

"I didn't really have anything planned, well I was going to spend the day with Jace but obviously he's not here. After the past few days, I'm running low on some of my art supplies if you wanted to come down to the store with me." Clary offered, wondering whether Alec would decline her offer.

"Sounds good." He agreed, surprising Clary. She was sure he would have declined, instead choosing to go to Magnus' or rune his huge arsenal of arrows.

"Great! Let me just get ready and I'll meet you downstairs." Alec flashed a rare smile at Clary before departing the room.

...

Alec was not downstairs when Clary tried to find him, instead, she found him in the library, with Church in his lap.

"That cat adores you." Clary laughed as she walked in, surprising Alec. Apparently, he wasn't expecting her to be ready so quickly, but Clary wasn't surprised given who Alec's sister was.

"You're ready fast." He observed, urging Church from his lap so he could stand.

"I am not Izzy, it takes me about two hours less than it takes her to get ready." Clary laughed again, earning another slight smile from Alec.

"Ready to go?"

Alec nodded, and soon they were outside of the institute, walking down the street to the art store Clary needed to go to. The store Clary liked was only a few blocks away, it was a hole-in-the-wall kind of place that you would only find if you knew exactly where it was. It was run by an elderly lady who knew Clary by name because she was in there so often. Alec stopped in surprise when they entered the small store, as there were things everywhere. There were brushes on every stand, and an array of different paints everywhere he looked. Different canvases, both painted and plain were hanging from each wall.

Clary wandered into the shop, knowing exactly where she was going and what she was looking for, leaving Alec standing baffled at the entrance to the shop.

Finally, Alec broke out of his reverie and started to walk towards where Clary was talking to the shop owner at the back of the store.

"And this is the right one for water paints, right?" Alec caught the end of Clary's question and furrowed his eyebrows, he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

The shop owner nodded, and Clary picked up a box of the paint, resting it on top of two canvases that she was holding with her other arm.

Alec proceeded to follow Clary around the store, occasionally listening to questions that she asked the shop owner. It wasn't an activity that he particularly enjoyed, but it was something that Clary enjoyed, and he wanted to get to know her more, like she was for him. About twice a week, Clary was taking time away from everything else and training with him. Clary enjoyed training with Jace and Izzy, but the way she trained with Alec was different. When she trained with Izzy, it was purely fighting skills, and when she trained with Jace not much training was done. When Clary was training with Alec, nobody was allowed to interrupt them per Alec's instructions. He was teaching her to use a bow and arrow too, something that would be very useful in her personal arsenal, but she enjoyed getting to know Alec more. It was important to know family.

"Alec." He heard Clary call, when he turned to her she was looking at him confused.

Clary laughed lightly and followed his line of sight, noting that he was looking at the huge array of glitter that the shop stocked. The first thing that came to her mind was Magnus, before she walked over and took a small pot of silver glitter from the display for a specific piece that she was working on.

...

"Thank you for coming with me, Alec." Clary smiled as they left the store, she was clutching a large bag of items she had just purchased.

"You're welcome. It's been good, it's not often we spend time together, outside of training and hunting." The two of them walked down the street and into an alleyway where they glamoured themselves for the walk back to the institute. Clary didn't really see the point as the institute was only a few blocks away, but Alec had insisted.

"How about we get Taki's for dinner? I'm sure Izzy and Jace are back by now and Jace is tired from Izzy hauling his ass around the mall."

"I'm sure he will." Clary laughed as they crossed the street to Taki's.