The Bronx: Seventeen Years Old

Isabelle's phone went off, and it was the last goddamn straw tonight. Alec rounded on her.

"Are you fucking kidding, Izzy?" he demanded, pushing himself into her space.

She didn't back down, not even an inch. Instead, she pulled her buzzing phone out from between her breasts and answered it, staring defiantly at Alec all the while. "Hey there, Reynaldo."

"Izzy!" Alec huffed. "Why are we even bothering with the invisibility runes if you aren't going to silence your fu-"

Jace grabbed him around the bicep and pulled him away from his sister. "Hey, calm down."

"We are on a mission. She can't have her phone on during a mission," Alec growled.

"Yeah, we're just finishing up here," Izzy said it into the phone, but it was clearly directed at Alec. "Everything wrapped up and taken care of. I could meet you at Taki's in twenty minutes if you don't mind me showing up in my gear." She laughed and leered into the phone. "I thought you might say that."

Jace kept his hand tight around Alec's bicep as he leaned over and swatted Izzy gently on the forearm. "Hey, don't go to Taki's."

"Just a second, babe." She set the phone against her shoulder. "Why not?"

"I've got a date with that faerie girl tonight. Kaeli. We're meeting at Taki's."

Alec's anger, burning hot, suddenly turned frozen. "You… You have a what?"

Jace looked back at him. "A date."

"A date," Alec repeated dumbly.

"So why I can't we both have a date at Taki's?" Isabelle demanded. "Where else am I supposed to take Reynaldo for dinner?"

"Anywhere, Izzy. Kaeli can only go to Taki's. She's green. She has green skin."

"Oh, yeah, that girl," Izzy nodded. "She's pretty, Jace. I want to hear more about this later. But Reynaldo is a vampire. There's nowhere else in the city that's going to serve him blood. We'll just sit in different sections. They pull the curtains down at night. You won't even know we're there."

Jace sighed, but agreed. Izzy confirmed her plans with Reynaldo, hung up and tucked her phone back into her bra.

Alec's momentarily dulled anger flared instantly back up. "You are both blowing off a mission debrief to go… smooch downworlders?"

It was a poor choice of words. He knew that as soon as he closed his mouth. He was tired and angry and had just been dealt a pretty serious shock. Jace had never, ever, shown any interest in a girl.

Izzy's laugh was a lot meaner than Alec thought was necessary. Jace's was only a little more understanding.

"Mom only needs one person at the debrief," Izzy told him brightly. She linked arms with Jace. "And since we both have plans…"

They both gave him pleading smiles.

Alec glowered at both of them, then turned and walked away.

"Thank you, Alec," they chorused after him.

He didn't reply.

He started going back to the Institute, but stopped. Why was he trudging home alone to do their work for them? He was just going to end up covering for them. Lying for them. Their parents were quietly ignoring Izzy's rebellious phase, but they would expect better from Jace.

They only wanted the best for Jace.

Alec turned a corner, making sure he was out of view of Jace and Izzy before he called his mother. Plenty of the other Shadowhunters at the Institute debriefed by phone. There was no rule against it. He quickly described the mission for her. Two Dahak demons, an easy kill, more pest control than a real mission.

"No injuries?" she asked. "No collateral damage?"

"No," Alec answered.

"And you're on your way home." It was a statement, not a question, said with such confidence that Alec almost complied. But he was still angry. Fuck Izzy and Jace. His purpose in life wasn't covering for them. He could be rebellious too.

"Actually we were all going to go out for dinner."

"Really? It's late."

"Yeah… um… we're starving though," Alec said. All things considered, he should have been a better liar. Maybe people had limits and the big lies screwed up your ability to tell the little ones.

His mother laughed. "Of course. What am I thinking wondering why a couple seventeen-year-old boys need a second dinner. Okay. Good night."

"Good night," Alec said.

Fine. So he had covered for Izzy and Jace. It was only because it suited his purposes. Next time he wouldn't. Next time he would blow them off, and let them twist.

He walked down the street. Pandemonium wasn't that far away. Jace and Izzy weren't the only ones who could pick up downworlders.

He stopped walking after two blocks. Pandemonium had a certain type of clientele. It was where downworlders and mundanes who wore too much make up went. But plenty of clubs catered to… niches. Why not go to a more specific type of club?

He pulled his phone out, opened up Google maps, and tapped out a few words he had never had the nerve to search before.

When you properly applied your invisibility runes, and left your phone on silent, and didn't bring attention to yourself, like they had all been trained to do, getting into a club underage was a piece of cake. Alec had simply hopped the waist high railing behind the bouncer and walked in the front door. He even managed to slip his jacket, bow, and quiver into the coat check, completely undetected.

The music inside was abrasively loud and completely obnoxious. If it weren't for the anger still coursing through him (and the image of Jace having a lovely dinner with a lovely green girl), Alec might have given up and turned around.

But not tonight. Tonight he was going to rebel, goddammit. He was going to be selfish and irresponsible just like everyone else.

But first— reconnaissance. He was a rebel. Not an idiot.

He crept around the club for about fifteen minutes, his invisibility rune still intact. There were different floors, each with different music, and different types of people. The floor he'd first walked onto was blasting harsh, electronic music, while shirtless young men, a lot of them with glow-in-the-dark paint on their lithe bodies, bounced around to it in the darkness.

The second floor actually had regular lights on, and was playing pop music at a volume you could be heard over if you shouted. The guys on this floor were fully clothed, and all of them looked like what Alec pictured when he imagined mundane boys. Jeans. Plaid shirts. Short hair. There were girls on this floor, but none of them seemed to be dancing with the other girls.

The last floor was even more confusing. It was also mostly dark, with some blue and green lighting just barely alleviating the darkness. Screaming heavy metal was playing. There were no women anywhere on this floor and the men that were grinding against each other here were wearing just as much black leather as Alec was, but in very different ways.

Alec paused. Maybe this is what he wanted. His rune for night vision was still operating. He could see what these men were doing to each other out on the dance floor. Maybe he'd come here to get groped and kissed and pressed up against a wall. Maybe that was all he fucking wanted tonight.

But maybe he didn't want to do those things in a crowded room, and maybe he wanted that sort of attention from a guy who was at least 20 years younger than the average guy up here.

He went back downstairs. The second floor seemed the most innocuous, but he didn't really understand what was going on here. No one really seemed to be dancing together, and there really were a lot of girls. Maybe this floor didn't even cater to… men like him.

He went back to the first floor, and kept observing. It only took about two songs to discern a pattern. Men out on the floor danced until the song changed. At every song change a significant amount of men went to the bar, they talked and touched each other and went back out on the floor together.

Okay then.

Alec backed up against one of the walls, where it was darkest, pulled out his stele and undid his invisibility rune. For a moment, he considered casting a glamour to hide his Marks, but most of the men in this room had tattoos. He'd hardly stick out. Besides. No one in here knew what Marks were.

The bartender passed him a menu as he sat down and mimed taking a drink out of a glass. It was too loud for anything else.

Alec looked at the menu. He didn't know what anything on it was so he just pointed to something at random and ended up ordering a "Long Island Ice Tea".

It came in a tall glass with a lot of ice. It was like drinking electric sugar, but Alec didn't care.

How in the hell had Jace ended up on a date with a Seelie girl?

Plenty of Shadowhunters hated downworlders, despite the accords. Alec wasn't one of them. Werewolves were good people. Family oriented. Honest. They took care of their own and settle disputes fairly. Warlocks you just had to feel sorry for. They were always born out of tragedy and trickery. Besides, Shadowhunters were always going to need warlock magic and, when treated with respect, Warlocks made decent neighbors, figuratively speaking. There was no point in being prejudiced toward them.

But Seelies and Vampires?

Vampires resented the accords and broke them at every opportunity. They were deadly and probably ninety percent of the writs of transmutation were signed by coercion.

Seelies were cruel and bizarre. When you couldn't lie, you perfected very complicated ways of avoiding the truth.

And mundanes-

"Hi!"

Alec only heard the words because they were shouted directly into his ear. He jumped, and a mundane boy spun out in front of him. He was broad and blonde with the exact same hair cut as Jace. He was wearing a white tank top, cut low enough that the curve muscle under his collar bone was clearly displayed. Streaks of paint, glowing under the lights, ran down his arms, and from his collarbone down under the neck of his shirt.

Yeah. That would work.

Alec smiled at him. The boy smiled back, leaned forward and almost pressed his lips against Alec's ear as he shouted to be heard over the din.

"What are you drinking?"

Alec picked up the menu and pointed again. The blonde boy grinned, took the menu from him, and turned to the bartender. He pointed to the paper, then held up two fingers.

The boy turned back to Alec, and leaned forward again. "Do you want any molly?"

Alec didn't know what that meant. He moved his own mouth to the boy's ear and replied "No! I'm good!"

"Okay. "

The bartender slid their two drinks between them. Alec downed the last few sips of his first drink quickly and started on the second.

The blonde boy set his hand at Alec's knee and grinned at him. Alec grinned back. It was too loud for a conversation. This guy was cute, and he was doing all the hard work.

Alec was about halfway through his drink, and starting to feel the effects, when the boy leaned over again.

"You are so fucking hot. Dance with me."

So Alec did.

No one on the dance floor was looking at him. It was almost like having his invisibility rune back on. It didn't matter if he couldn't dance either, he jumped around a little bit at first, but then the blonde's hands were all over him, and every move Alec made pressed them against each other more and more, until they were practically dry humping in the middle of the floor. He was hard and warm and out of control.

And it felt fucking great.

Alec wasn't sure who kissed who first, but neither was stopping. No one had kissed Alec in two and half years. He hadn't expected anger and petulant jealousy to push him this far.

He felt kind of drunk. What was in a Long Island Ice Tea?

Just as the room was starting to spin a little too much, the blonde slipped his hand into Alec's and tugged him toward the back of the dance floor. There was a dark hallway there, and the music was nowhere near as loud. Alec's ears were ringing from the onslaught.

The hallway was dark, except for blue and green track lights along the floor. There were alcoves along the entire length of the hallway. Some of them had curtains drawn across them. Some of them didn't. As the blonde pulled him down the hallway, looking for an empty alcove, Alec caught sight of a few couples making out, and doing more than making out, in the uncovered alcoves.

Finally, they passed an empty alcove and ducked inside. The blonde yanked the curtain shut behind them and was on top of Alec instantly. Pressing him back against the wall, kissing him, crushing Alec against his chest. He was surprisingly strong for a mundane.

Alec felt a little like he was drowning in hot water. The blonde's body was tight against him, and it was so stuffy back here. Sweat was dripping down Alec's face and he was gasping for breath between every kiss.

Things were starting to swirl around him as the blond kissed pulled Alec's tee shirt out of his jeans, then started to undo Alec's belt.

A shiver of something- maybe terror, maybe desire, Alec didn't know, ran through him, but he ignored it. He'd never done this with a stranger before. With someone he didn't know and who didn't care about him. But he could if he wanted to. He was always the responsible one. Would the world end if he wasn't, just for one night?

Besides, by now Jace was probably doing almost the same thing with that Seelie girl.

He probably wasn't doing it behind a curtain in a crowded hallway though.

The blonde thrust his hand into Alec's clothes and started to touch him. His lips were against Alec's ear again, but Alec couldn't hear him. He was speaking too quietly now. The mundane grabbed Alec's hand and shoved it into his own clothes, demanding reciprocation. He was circumcised, which threw Alec for a second. He wasn't. Edward Whitelaw hadn't been. But it couldn't be that different.

Judging by the way the blonde moaned as Alec started to move his hand, it wasn't.

A knot was starting in Alec's stomach. This wasn't the sort of thing he'd ever pictured himself doing. It was pretty… undignified. Wasn't it? Was he really doing this because he wanted to? Or was he just pissed at Jace and Izzy for never having to carry the responsibility like he did? Or was he just hurt that Jace had finally shown interest in someone, and it wasn't him?

Alec didn't even know this guy's name.

He set his hands at the blonde's chest just as the blond squeezed him in a new and intense way that might have convinced Alec to let him keep going if he had been just a little less sober. Instead, he pushed the mundane back gently, and when he didn't get the hint, Alec pushed a little less gently.

The blonde rocked back on his heels with a smile, launched forward to kiss Alec again, and set his hand at Alec's shoulders. He was a good kisser, Alec thought. Almost as good as Edward had been. Though, that could have just been the rosy glow of nostalgia.

The mundane suddenly pushed down on Alec's shoulder, hard enough that Alec's knee's buckled for just a second. If he'd been completely human, the shove probably would have pushed him down to the floor.

That was it. Alec didn't belong here. He was done. He grabbed the blonde's wrist and threw his hand back at him. For some reason the man was still smiling. The mundane leaned back in to talk to Alec over the music again, shouting loud enough to be heard this time. "Good call. You can never tell when they clean up back here. I live around the corner." He slid his hand back into Alec's underwear. "Come home with me. I'll give you the fuck of your life."

Alec pulled the mundane's hand out of his clothes. "I can't. I'm sorry."

"Okay. I get it. We can do it here," the blond tried to push Alec against the wall again but Alec threw out a hand and pushed him back hard enough that the blond had to take a step back to catch himself.

"No. I don't want to." Alec zipped his fly back up.

"Are you serious?"

"I'm always serious," Alec told him ruefully as he finished redoing his belt.

"God. You are a fucking little tease aren't you? What the fuck did you think was going to happen back here?" He grabbed Alec's bicep and dug his fingers in way too hard. "Jesus. How old are you?"

Pissed now, Alec straightened himself up to his full height, and got in the guy's face. "You might end up wishing you'd asked me that before you tried to fuck me. Let me go."

The guy did. Alec left the alcove, already pulling his stele out of his pocket. He had an invisibility rune done before he turned the corner, just in time to see the blonde stomp past him.

The cold night was a relief against his skin and he walked away from the club, pulling in cold air like it was water. He was a couple blocks away before he put his coat back on, slung his bow and quiver over his shoulder, and checked his phone.

Fuck.

He had three missed calls, (two from Izzy, one from Jace) and ten text messages (five from each of them). They had both gotten back to the institute before he had.

Shit.

He opened Izzy's most recent text.

Alec, where are you? This isn't like you. We told mom that you ducked into a bodega to pick up some toothpaste and she went to sleep but if you don't text me back by midnight we are coming back out to find you.

He chuckled morosely to himself. That's exactly who he was. Someone who made a toothpaste run on a Friday night and was in bed before 11:30. It was 11:45 now. Izzy and Jace were probably already geared up and ready to sneak out of the Institute. He pulled up a group message to both of them.

I'm fine.

He walked further down the block. He wasn't fine. He was exhausted. He was drunk. He was starving.

Oh, and he was covered in some jerk's sweat and his hands smelled overwhelmingly of stranger crotch.

He wasn't fine, he was a fucking disaster.

A few blocks further along, the smell of grease wafting out of a diner's open front door drew him in. The waitress, a woman in her fifties who looked like her face had been carved from stone, appeared at the edge of his booth the second he sat down.

"Get you anything to start, kiddo?"

"French fries," Alec answered, his stomach talking before his brain could interfere. "Please."

The waitress looked at him for a moment. "Side of fries, coming right up. With a big glass of water, okay sweetheart?"

"Thank you."

Alec turned the sound on his phone back on. Jace and Izzy had both responded to his message, demanding to know where he was.

I'm picking up some toothpaste, he texted back.

Dammit, Alec, we're worried about you, Jace replied.

I'm completely safe, Alec texted. I just have to finish my taxes and work on my stamp collection and I'll come right home.

Alec went to the bathroom and scrubbed his hands down a couple times before what had happened really hit him.

He'd just doubled the number of men he'd ever fooled around with. A boy he'd loved, and some dude who happened to be in the right place when Alec was angry and horny. He hadn't even asked that guy his name. He hadn't cared at all.

Maybe that was just growing up. He couldn't let himself care about anyone in New York the way he'd cared about Edward. And none of that had been really… real anyway. They were fifteen, away from their real lives for three months in a beautiful place. Probably everyone thought there were in love at fifteen. Probably everyone had that person that they really should have slept with when it could have been perfect and simple.

It didn't matter anyway. That had been a long time ago.

Maybe Alec was still just drunk.

He ducked back into his booth just as the waitress returned with a tray. She set down a huge glass of water, a heaping plate of fries and a slice of cherry pie.

"Oh, I didn't order this," Alec told her.

The old woman put a finger to her lips. "I know, darling. Thought you could use it."

"Thank you."

Jace and Izzy kept texting him while he ate. He texted back another boring thing he could be doing every once in a while.

They didn't need to know what he was doing right now. There were a lot of things they didn't need to know about him. And maybe, in the morning, he would talk to Izzy about the things she did know about him.

But, for now, they just needed to know that he was safe.