Addicted to you- Alec Lightwood

5- Teach me

Ethan stared at Alec for a moment, then diverted his gaze away from him to look around the room. When he noticed that someone was missing, he turned to Clary.

"Clare," he said, tentatively, "where's Mom?"

At this, Clary visibly teared up. "She's gone"

Ethan felt his stomach drop to the floor. "You mean... she's dead?"

Clary stiffened, then shook her head. "No. At least, I don't think so... she was nowhere to be found by the time we got to the flat"

Suddenly, Ethan felt his stomach clench tight, and he groaned in pain and doubled over. Clary stared at him in alarm.

"E, what's wrong?" she cried in shock, then turned to Alec "What's wrong with him?"

Alec looked as alarmed as Clary, staring at Ethan with a look of horror mixed with sympathy. At that moment, Jace walked through the door with a bottle filled with a cloudy liquid in his hand. As he absorbed the scene in front of him (Ethan clutching his stomach and groaning, whilst Clary held his hand and rubbed his back), he audibly groaned in frustration.

"Late again, Jace," he muttered under his breath as he handed the bottle to Ethan, "Drink this, Sleeping Beauty. You've been out for three days, meaning you haven't eaten for days. This should help"

Ethan smiled weakly at Jace in gratitude as he took the bottle. The liquid inside tasted sweet and delicious, and immediately made him feel better. He gingerly sat up further and looked at Alec and Jace.

"So... where am I? Is this the Institute?"

Clary looked at Ethan in confusion. "How do you know about the Institute?"

Ethan sighed. "I had a short, but not very sweet, discussion with Mom about what we were when the demon attacked"

Alec chimed in. "What demon was it? Do you know that?"

Ethan thought back to the night of the attack for a moment, trying to recollect his memories. "I think I remember, vaguely, Jace saying that it was a Ravener demon, but I don't know what that is. What happened to it?"

Clary looked acutely proud of herself. "I killed it?"

Ethan looked stunned for a moment. His little fifteen year old sister killed the Ravener demon  that gave his eighteen year old ass so much trouble? "Damn, little sis. How?"

Alec scoffed and Clary turned to glare at him. Ethan could sense some underlying tension between them that he didn't quite understand, but he chose not to pry just yet. Jace, sensing the tension in the room too, took over from Clary.

"She took my Sensor, an object that detects if demons are near, and shoved it down the creature's throat. Clever move actually. The runes on the thing must have choked it"

Ethan shook his head, trying to process this information. "I guess I have a lot to learn. Mom didn't exactly explain much about this world."

Clary muttered under her breath "She didn't tell me anything..."

Ethan narrowed his eyes at her. "That's because, thank god, you weren't in the flat when we were being attacked by a demon. You wouldn't want to trade places with me just to learn what we are, and don't you dare say that you would."

Clary was surprised by the sharp tone of Ethan's voice. Sure, he had scolded her before in the past, but there was something different to it now. A note of urgency was now mixed with the sharpness, and an undercurrent of sadness went along with it. Clary correctly assumed that it was because of what he had seen, because of what he had experienced that night in the flat. Looking at him now, he had never looked so stressed out. 

Alec on the other hand looked almost impressed at Ethan's retort. Ethan couldn't decide whether that was because he had been aggressive towards Clary, or because he was apparently doing  a good job at hiding his fear.

Just at that moment, Izzy came through the door and smiled at Ethan. "Oh good, you're awake! How are you?"

Ethan smiled back at Izzy. Her happiness was infectious. "Slightly in pain, but other than that I'm good"

Izzy's smile widened. "Well that's great news!" Then she turned to Jace and Clary. "Hodge said he wants to talk to you two."

Jace gestured for Clary to stand up and they both walked towards the door. As Jace left, Clary hesitated for a moment, turning around to speak to Ethan one more time. 

"Are you sure you're going to be okay, E?"

Ethan nodded and smiled. "You go speak to this Hodge guy, okay? Love you, Clare-Bear"

Clary walked back over to Ethan and kissed him on the head, then left the Infirmary to Jace calling for her to "hurry the hell up!"

Izzy looked between the two boys for a moment, who had caught each other's gaze yet again.

"Right," she said after a moment, clapping her hands and drawing the boys' attention towards her, "I'm going to go and make dinner"

"Oh, Lord, spare us" Alec muttered under his breath.

Izzy's eyes narrowed. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Alec can you keep Ethan company whilst I cook?"

Alec nodded and looked at the ground, before returning his gaze to Ethan after Izzy had left. After a moment of intense eye contact and unbearable silence, Ethan asked Alec a question.

"Alec, could you do me a favour?"

Alec blinked, as if waking up from a dream. When Ethan's words finally registered with him, he smiled. "Anythi- I mean, yeah sure. What is it?"

Ethan blushed and stared into his lap. After a few seconds, he met Alec's gaze again. "I know we don't have long, but whilst I'm stuck here, would you be able to teach me the basic knowledge I need to understand Shadowhunters and their culture?"

Alec's smile widened. "I was hoping you'd ask me to teach you."

Alec flopped down on the edge of Ethan's bed in excitement. "There's so much I have to teach you" he whispered.

Ethan smiled and giggled slightly at Alec's excitement. "Then we better get started" he whispered back. 

*time skip, brought to you by Magnus' dramatic, swooshy magic hands*

After a few hours of teaching from Alec, and an introduction from Hodge, Ethan was ready to leave the Infirmary. Alec graciously offered to show Ethan to his room in the Institute living quarters which was, coincidentally, next to Alec's.

As the pair walked towards their rooms, they talked about anything and everything. Weapons, hobbies, daily routines, family, friends, happiness, embarrassment. As they arrived at Ethan's room, Ethan felt a small sense of disappointment. He enjoyed talking to Alec. He was... calm, easy to talk to. 

"Well," Alec started, "here's your room"

Ethan nodded and smiled. "Thanks Alec. Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning"

Alec smiled back, and started to walk off. "Yeah, I guess you will"

Ethan called after him. "Wait, Alec!"

Alec turned back around rapidly. "Yeah, Ethan?"

Ethan hesitated for a moment, then said "Sleep well"

Alec grinned broadly. "Thanks, you too" he said, as he slipped through his bedroom door.

Ethan walked through his own door and saw an elegant looking double bed with sophisticated grey bedding in the middle of the room. He closed the door and lay on it, giddy excitement, at the prospect of seeing Alec tomorrow, filling his body.

A/N- Hey guys!

Hope you're liking this story so far. I wanted to establish more of a relationship between Alec and Ethan when he arrived at the Institute, and I hope I've done that successfully.

If you have something to say about the story, big or small, don't hesitate to comment or even send me a private message. Next update will be tomorrow.

Until then,

kait-astrophe