Author's Note: Welcome to my first attempt at Jalec. This starts before City of Bones and will deal exclusively with Jace and Alec. There will be several chapters. Please review as you wish, and please enjoy. Remember, I own none of these characters!

Chapter 1

Bittersweet

When we say that something is bittersweet,
it usually means something scary, painful, yet pleasant.
So if Life is sweet and Death is bitter,
Then surely Love must be without a doubt - bittersweet.

~ Angivel of Zanarcadia

Robert Lightwood had been a wonderful father to Alec. He had explained most anything Alec might need to know about life as a Shadowhunter. Robert had fought in many great battles, and his advice was indispensible. However, for other things, Robert was less forthcoming with his advice. When it came to sexual education, Alec and his parabatai, Jace, sat through six hours of embarrassing diagrams and Hodge's mumbling words. On that subject, Robert only instilled three more key pieces of advice for when it came to sex: it was important to always wear protection, be smart, and never, ever give your heart to someone who wouldn't give their heart in return.

Alec still had questions. He wanted to know how it was possible for Jace to go from the boy he regularly pinned to the mat during training exercises to the boy who made his heart skip a beat whenever he got to close. He wanted to know how Jace could be covered with dirt, mud, and perhaps a little blood but still appear to be absolutely beautiful. Alec wanted to, no, he needed to know how he could manage to fall in love with Jace Wayland.

It had started off innocently enough, in the Library of all places, during schooling. After the age of fourteen, Jace had taken on his own scent that was a mix of sweat and soap. Alec couldn't help it, he wanted to be closer to that smell, so once in a while, he would move his chair closer to Jace's. If they had to read from the same book, it was even better, because that meant Alec had to be close to Jace, had to nearly press his arm against Jace's arm, had to breathe in Jace's sweet smell and bathe in it. They would sit for four hours at a time and Alec would spend half of that time semi aroused and barely paying attention to Hodge's droning. In time, Jace developed a little crush on Isabelle. Meanwhile, Alec found himself falling more and more in love with Jace.

Jace had been the one to make the first move. It had been a hot summer afternoon, after weapons training. They had been just told to clean up and get ready for dinner. As usual, Hodge let them to their own devices and as usual, Jace waited until he was gone from the training room before he took a running start straight from across the room and slammed himself into Alec. Alec flew through the air and landed on a training mat and Jace landed on top of him. Alec sunk his fingers into Jace's sides, trying to flip Jace over to get the upper hand, but he couldn't, because Jace still outweighed him by a good twenty pounds. Normally, Jace would spend his time on top of Alec doing awful things to the boy beneath him. Pulling Alec's drawers part of the way down and digging his fingers into the disastrously ticklish place just inside of Alec's hips was only one of the many things Jace tortured Alec with.

On this day, Alec shoved his hands up Jace's shirt, looking for a bit of fat to hold on to, either to pinch or tickle, but there was none. Jace pushed back the hair that lay in sweaty tendrils across Alec's forehead and peered down into Alec's eyes, studying him. He leaned over, sniffed at Alec's neck, and licked at the place just beneath Alec's ear. Alec felt his heart start to pound. He blushed, which did not help the feeling of warmth suddenly spreading through his body. Jace sighed, sniffed again, and then licked a long, slow line up the side of Alec's neck. It tickled at first, and Alec shivered, trying to pull away, but then he closed his eyes and felt the nerves in his neck suddenly ignite with heat. Alec whimpered and gripped Jace's waist tighter as he turned his head. He felt warmth below his ear and Jace gave a soft moan of approval before pulling away.

"Pretzels," Jace mumbled. "I think we should have pretzels and mustard for a snack."

"But dinner is going to be ready in an hour," Alec said. Jace looked deep into Alec's eyes and licked his lips.

"But I'm hungry now," Jace whispered. He climbed off of Alec and walked into the locker room. Bewildered, Alec waited a second and then followed.

By the time Alec had walked into the locker room, Jace had already stripped off his clothes, thrown them into a hamper, and stepped beneath a shower head in the next room. Alec went to his locker and got his flip flops and shower caddy of shampoo, conditioner, face wash, and soap. Usually, Jace showered in less than a minute and was out of the showers long before Alec went in. It wasn't that he was embarrassed about Jace seeing him naked- they had seen each other naked plenty of times- but it was that Alec could still feel Jace's tongue on his neck and the feeling of warmth in his body was still there, manifesting itself in an obvious way.

Jace began singing a song in Romanian. It was a long song with several complicated verses and Alec had a feeling Jace planned on taking a very long shower. Finally, Alec undressed, wrapped a towel around his waist, put on his flip flops, got his products, and walked into the shower room.

Jace was standing at the corner shower head, tangling his fingers into his golden hair as ribbons of water twisted their way down his body. His eyes were closed and he was stark naked as he sang. Alec removed the towel from his waist, hung it on a hook beside the door, turned a shower on cold, and stepped beneath it. Predictably, the ice water and Romanian dirge cooled his body quickly, but then Alec got a headache so he turned the water on warm and ducked his head beneath it, keeping his back to Jace.

Jace's voice got louder as he walked across the shower room and joined Alec beneath his shower head. Jace reached into Alec's caddy, got his shampoo, and poured some into his hand as he continued to sing. He rubbed his hands together, dropped them onto Alec's head, and began to scrub Alec's hair. He raked his nails into Alec's scalp, causing waves of pain and pleasure to run up and down Alec's spine. Alec stood stock still, a horrified look on his face. Occasionally, Jace's warm, slick skin brushed against Alec's back and in those moments he tried to think about something to distract himself, but he could not. He looked down and watched himself slowly swell and harden and he just hoped to the Angel above that Jace just wouldn't notice.

Then the singing stopped, and Alec could only hear water pounding on the floor and Jace's soft breathing behind him. Jace rinsed Alec's hair, then added conditioner and rinsed that as well. Alec was certain, now, that Jace would just leave him alone to finish his shower, but Jace didn't. He turned Alec so that Alec was facing him, then pushed Alec beneath the water, so that it cascaded down over Alec's face. Alec closed his eyes to keep the water out, and then felt a pair of warm lips press to his. Alec tried to pull away but Jace rested a hand on his lower back and forced his tongue between Alec's teeth. Alec gasped a little and considered pulling away, but Jace was there, kissing him this way, and so Alec kissed back. He was so confused because he hadn't expected this and he hadn't planned on it and he had never kissed someone before… Jace pulled away and kissed Alec once more, quickly.

"Pudding," Jace said. Alec nodded. "I want pudding, so meet me in the kitchen. I'll need you to distract your mother while I get two pudding cups from the pantry. Do you want chocolate or vanilla?"

"Vanilla," Alec said.

"Me to," Jace said. He stepped out from beneath the water. Jace grabbed Alec's towel, put it around his waist, and walked out of the shower room. Alec lifted his hand to his mouth and ran his index finger over his bottom lip, thinking about how he never expected his first kiss to feel that wet.

The week passed long and frustratingly slow. Alec felt like he was waiting for something to happen but nothing ever happened. The days went as they usually did. Up early in the morning, breakfast in the kitchen, classes until lunch, then time for lunch to settle, then an afternoon spent being Jace's punching bag. It wasn't that Jace hurt him, no, Jace just pushed Alec to do his best but Alec couldn't handle the idea of hurting Jace, so Alec pretended to miss punches on purpose. After training was the shower, where Jace sang and danced and Alec washed his hair quietly and wondered if Jace would ever get close to him again.

Then, a whole seven days after Jace had first kissed him, there was breakfast, school, lunch, a nap, training, and finally, a shower at the end of another wrestling match on the mat. This time, Alec put his back to the wall as he washed his hair. Jace took the shower across from him, completely naked, and put on his usual self pleasure by scalp massage routine. Alec watched.

Finally, Jace turned off his shower and walked over to Alec's, rudely bumping Alec out of the way to get to the warm water pouring down. Jace filled his mouth with some water, swished it around, spit it out, then took Alec by the arms and pulled him back underneath so they were facing each other. Alec closed his eyes and they kissed again, longer this time. Jace ran his fingers down the back of Alec's arm, took his hand, and pressed it to his own half stiff erection. Alec wrapped his fingers around it, marveling at the width more than the length, and found himself fascinated by the feeling of something that felt so familiar, and yet so foreign- just for a second. Then Alec dropped it like a hot potato and shook his head, his eyes still shut.

"It's okay," Jace whispered. "You don't have to. But here… let me…" Jace took firm hold of Alec's now painful erection and began to stroke. With his other hand, he turned up the hot water so it was warmer on Alec's back. Alec leaned into the water more and felt Jace's hand on his back, supporting him. Jace kissed Alec again, gently, and slid his hand up and down Alec's shaft.

"What if someone sees?" Alec mumbled.

"There's a Clave meeting," Jace replied. "Remember?" Alec smiled against Jace's lips and spread his knees a little. He found that by shifting his weight just the slightest bit forward and back, he could slide his erection in and out of the tight circle Jace had made with his hand. Alec moaned and laid his head against Jace's shoulder for a second. He was beginning to feel dizzy and his lower stomach was starting to throb, just like it did all of those nights he lay in his bed and thought about Jace doing just this, only it was Alec's hand doing the work. Was this really happening?

"We shouldn't be doing this," Alec said.

"But I want to," Jace replied. He tried kissing Alec some more but Alec found it difficult to focus on the kissing and what Jace's hand was doing to him at the same time. Jace seemed pretty persistent. It was obvious what Jace wanted Alec to do, but Alec was unsure about producing the results.

"I can't," Alec mumbled.

"Of course you can. You're just thinking about it too much," Jace said. "Come for me, Alec; you know you want to."

Alec smiled again and pressed his lips to Jace's. Jace kissed back, softly and carefully, while his right hand continued to work Alec into frenzy, pumping up and down, squeezing at intervals. His left hand dug into Alec's lower back, holding Alec up. Alec felt bicep against his back and every muscle of Jace's stomach against his side. Alec wanted more skin on skin contact so he finally turned to Jace and put his arms around Jace's shoulders. Jace ran his left hand down to Alec's backside, released his erection, and began to kiss Alec hard, passionate, and hungry.

Alec fell backwards against the cold cement wall and pulled Jace with him. Jace pressed his body into Alec's, closed his eyes, and tangled his tongue with Alec's. Alec reached down, grabbed a handful of Jace's well toned backside, and pulled Jace's crotch against his own. Their erections smashed together. It should have hurt but it felt anything but painful.

There were so many sensations crashing together, it was hard to keep track. Jace was warm from his shower. His body was slick and smelled of a crisp soap. He was hard and pushing himself against Alec's lower stomach. Alec was just as hard, perhaps harder than Jace, and his shaft was rubbing back against Jace's, causing skin to slip against skin and the most unusual feelings to pass up through Alec's body.

The water had run cold and it poured down on them both, giving Jace goose bumps and causing his nipples to harden into two tiny pink nubs. Alec looked at Jace's chest in front of him. Before he knew it, he had one of the nipples in his mouth. He began sucking and biting on it as Jace started to make noises in his throat, so Alec moved to Jace's other nipple and did the same thing. He felt Jace harden even more and press back against him, more frantic then ever before.

Jace's eyes snapped open. He stared at Alec, and Alec waited to be punched in the face because what he had done just had to have been wrong. Jace reached down, grabbed Alec's right leg, and lifted it, pulling it around his back so that Alec was partially held in his arms and partially pinned against the wall. It was the perfect angle. Suddenly, Alec's erection was pressed firmly against Jace's body, and when Jace began to again kiss and rub against him, Alec felt the skin of Jace's hard, muscular stomach on every inch of his aching cock.

"Harder," Alec pleaded. He reached down and pulled Jace tighter against himself. Jace growled and bit Alec's lower lip. His hand held Alec by the backside and he tugged Alec's body against his. Alec felt his eyes flicker closed and he forced them back open. He forced himself to look in Jace's eyes, to remember this moment… to… Alec couldn't think about anything but what was happening between them. Late at night, all alone in his bed… it had never felt this good before.

Jace gasped Alec's name and rubbed against him until it hurt, but within the pain, something began to feel pleasurable. Alec tangled his hands in Jace's hair and pulled Jace's head back. He sunk his teeth into the side of Jace's neck and bit down to keep from screaming. There was heat, more pain, and then Alec felt his legs shake. He pulled Jace harder against himself, until there was no room for anything between them, and Jace's body throbbed with the same intensity as Alec's as they both hit the point of no return and finally, mercifully, came.

In the seconds after Jace could only stare at Alec and Alec could only look back, scared and unsure of what might happen next. Then Jace released Alec's leg and he dropped it back to the floor.

Alec's legs were shaking and he wanted to hold on to Jace. He wanted to bury his face in Jace's chest and hope that at some point his heart might stop pounding, but Jace only looked at him, his face expressionless. Jace turned his back, walked across the shower room, and turned on a shower head. He rinsed his face, hair, and body with his back to Alec. Alec stood beneath the ice cold water and thought that this was how it felt to have everything, only to have everything cruelly jerked away.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this. Reviews modivate me to update faster!