The pinks and purples of the early evening sky had quietly turned a midnight blue without the party noticing.
Dinner had been Magnus' idea. The free flowing liquor Jace's. Never mind that both Clary and Simon were underage. Or in Simon's case formerly underage and currently undead.
Jace realized gleefully that Simon was probably going to get carded his whole life. It was a small consolation considering that that the vampire was going to be around for eternity to annoy Jace.
He'd take his petty revenge where he could.
"Have you seen where Magnus keeps the cranberry juice?" Maia asked cutting into Jace's train of thought.
"Nope, I'm the resident bartender tonight," Jace said steering her to the other side of the makeshift bar. "One of my designated driver perks is that I get to help get all of you stupid drunk," he added with a wink, earning him an eye roll in response.
"Fine," Maia said. leaning forward to grab the glasses Jace would need as if to make sure he knew which glass to use for which drink. "Another gin and tonic for Alec, a whiskey for Magnus and cosmos for the rest of us."
Jace sniggered, preparing the more complicated drinks first. "Sure. Cosmos for you, Clary, Izzy and Simon coming up."
Maia smirked, "You know damn well Simon's drink is a Bloody Mary. Extra bloody."
"Something I have gladly chosen to forget."
"Scared of a little blood, Jace?" she challenged.
"More like disgusted. Tell him to make his own bloody drink," Jace smiled, proud of his pun.
Maia was far from impressed. "That is such a dad joke. I think you're losing your touch."
"What in the hell is a dad joke?"Jace asked, finishing the last of the drinks. He might not know what it meant but he could tell when he was being insulted. It sounded like something more fitting for Luke.
Maia laughed but didn't answer. "I'll come back for the others," she said taking the cosmos back to Izzy and Clary.
Jace begrudgingly started on Simon's drink. He wondered if Simon would notice if he added a little cinnamon.
"Are you sure we shouldn't cut off Alec?" Maia asked when she came back, nodding over to where Alec was practically sitting on Magnus' lap, grinning stupidly as Izzy told them about one of her many encounters with the Fair Folk.
Normally Alec would be frowning at Izzy disapprovingly, instead he seemed content to be sitting there, listening to his sister talk.
"Are you kidding?" Jace asked. "Not before he does something monumentally embarrassing on video."
"And you're supposed to be his Parabatai," Maia said, adding a teasing lilt to the last word. "Come on. I doubt anyone's going to need a new drink any time soon."
Jace followed, helping Maia with the rest of the glasses. He sat on the arm of the sofa where Magnus and Alec were sitting and was welcomed with an uncharacteristically wide grin when he handed Alec his drink.
"Thanks, Jace," Alec said, a heavy hand slowly patting Jace on the knee. "You're the best, Paratabro."
Laughing, Jace gave Alec a lighter pat on the shoulder. "Anytime."
Alec nodded then went back to ignoring him and staring sappily at Magnus who seemed to be enjoying the attention.
Jace was suddenly very glad he had remembered to charge his phone, slipping it out of his pocket and pulling up the camera app.
Maia gave him a look and shook her head with a smile before taking a sip of her drink and diving back into the conversation.
He wondered how long he would have to wait before he could get something he could use to blackmail Alec. Something that wasn't so humiliating that Alec would be sure Jace would never use it, but mortifying enough that Alec wouldn't want someone like Maryse to see.
Judging by the way Alec was leaning heavily on Magnus, Jace wouldn't have to wait long.
It wasn't that he wasn't glad Alec and Magnus had obviously made up. Just like how he had felt Alec's happiness intensity with each day he had spent with Magnus, Jace had felt the same happiness extinguish after the shit show with the Soul Sword.
Jace was no stranger to heartbreak but the loss Alec had felt was so deep, a phantom ache had crawled up Jace's Parabatai rune and nestled itself into Jace's chest as if a part of him had gone missing.
He was grateful Magnus had pulled his head out of his ass when he did because another week of feeling like shit and he was going to find an empty closet and lock them both in it. There was only so much of Alec's mopey puppy dog eyes he could take.
Alec's eyes were far from mopey now. Instead they were staring at Magnus hair as if they contained the secrets of the universe, his long fingers playing with the strands.
Jace covered up his laugh with a cough, making sure his phone was still on record.
By the Angel, if he knew all it would take to remove the stick up Alec's ass was to get him drunk, he would have done it years ago.
Alec's eyes travelled downward from where they were exploring Magnus' hair and lit up when they met Magnus' eyes. His hand stroked down the length of his jaw to cup his cheek and an open, fond smile broke out across Alec's face.
"I love you," he whispered to Magnus.
Jace abruptly hit stop on phone.
He wanted to catch Alec in a compromising position. Not have Alec kill him for recording an intimate moment on camera.
Sliding down on the floor next to Maia, Jace pocketed his phone, ignoring the couple on the couch.
He had enough of spying for one night.
But who knew. Maybe he'd still be able to use that video one day. On Alec's real bachelor party for example.
Jace didn't think he'd have to wait for that for long either.
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