I'll Save Myself if it Would Save You Too

Chapter Five: Those Siblings of Alec's

The sky was now a swirly peach color, the sun falling down behind the towers in the Brooklyn sky. Valentine had escaped, but his forces were cut nearly in half. They were now bandaging the wounded, thankfully, by some miracle, none were dead. They were all glamoured so the mundanes wouldn't notice. Alec stood and watched, his arms crossed, his face set. Izzy was off getting an iratze for her injured leg. His mom was off organizing the clean up. His dad was writing fire messages to the Clave.
"Hey, Alec." Alec turned quickly at Jace's voice.
"Hey." He said nervously. Jace was standing next to him, crossing his arms and watching the other shadowhunters. Alec's heart beat faster. He knew Jace would want to talk about what happened earlier.
"So. Why didn't you tell me." There it was. Jace was looking straight. Not at Alec. Alec too was looking straight. His arms were crossed. He shrugged and looked down.
"I didn't know how you would react." Jace looked over at him.
"I'm your brother Alec. Your best friend. You know I'll love you no matter what." Alec made eye contact with him for a second before looking back straight.
"Thanks Jace." Jace nodded and looked back. Suddenly as if he was remembering something, his face contorted in guilt.
"Oh, Alec. All those times I teased you about having a girlfriend, I'm so sorry dude, that must have sucked." Alec shrugged again.
"It's fine. You didn't know. Just," he looked over at Jace, Jace met his eyes. "Thanks for not thinking I'm weird or disgusting or whatever. Or for not being mad at me." Jace's eyes softened. He looked at Alec with a mix of pity and protectiveness.
"What?! You're not any of those things. So far from it. I already told you I love you and there's no reason for me to be mad at you." Alec looked back out and smiled, so did Jace. "Besides, if anyone should be judged, it's me. I kissed Clary even when I thought she was my sister." Jace cringed. Alec let out a singular laugh at that.
"Where is she anyway?"
"We thought it best to keep her away from Valentine. Just in case." Alec nodded.
"She didn't like that, did she."
"Hated it. Really put up a fight." Alec shook his head slowly in disappointment.
"Come on, give her a chance." Jace looked over at Alec. Alec shook his head again.
"I'll give her a chance when she stops acting like a child." Jace sighed.
"You're both too stubborn." Alec shrugged. He looked out across the pavement to his parents. They were now both discussing something, yelling at each other and pointing at him. Alec sighed and looked down. He knew what they were fighting about, and it hurt. It really hurt. Jace noticed too. He uncrossed his arms and walked over, placing one firmly on Alec's shoulder.
"Give them time. I'm sure they will come around." Alec looked back up at them. They were now glaring in his direction. "Couldn't be more obvious." Jace quietly muttered angrily.
"What was that?" Jace shook his head.
"Nothing. Look, forget about them okay? No matter how long it will take them to realize they still love you, you'll always have Izzy and I, and Magnus seemed really into you." Jace smirked.
"Well that's what you get when you date someone for four months." Jace gawked at him.
"Four months?! You really should have told me sooner. We could have talked about our relationship drama." Alec glared at him.
"I'm still not going to discuss my relationship drama." Jace laughed.
"Good. I hate talking about that." They stood there together, quietly watching the sunset and all the shadowhunters celebrating their victory. They didn't talk, neither of them felt it was necessary. Eventually Izzy ran over and demanded to know everything about him and Magnus. When they met, when was their first date, what outfit of Alec's was Magnus's favorite. Alec rolled his eyes and walked away. Izzy followed him, Alec started to run, she chased him. Soon Alec was laughing and running with her chasing him and Jace trying to block her way late into the night. He hadn't felt this good since he was a child. Alec was happy then. So happy to be alive. To not have to hide. To be who he was with the people he loved. He didn't let himself think about anything that would trouble him. Not his parents, not the clave which actually didn't seem to care all that much, he thought he would at least have gotten a fire message from them by now. He didn't care though. And he knew he was going over to Magnus's that night and he wouldn't have to come up with a lie about it. The three siblings ran about like children until it actually became night.
"We should head back to the institute." Izzy gasped. She had just stopped running. Jace sighed.
"Yeah, probably." He said. He looked down at the time. It was getting late. They walked to the curb and hailed a cab. Both of them climbed in and held it open for Alec.
"I'm actually going over to Magnus's." Alec said nervously. He still wasn't used to being able to say that. Izzy beamed at him.
"Have fun." Jace smirked. Alec rolled his eyes. Jace pulled the door shut but rolled down the window as the car started to take off.
"Use protection!" Izzy yelled, leaning out of the window. Alec blushed, really they were probably just going to have dinner. Alec had been working off of nourishment runes all day. The cab sped away. He loved this. Alec hailed another one and headed off to his boyfriend's apartment, a smile wide on his face.