Alec geared up as quickly as possible, not wanting to anger Maria or lose any time in finding Jasper. Maria was right after all with everything going on right now someone missing was not a good sign, especially Jasper who never did things like this unless he was with Alec.
He exited the institute and found Maria leaning against the old church, glaring off into the distance and her arms folded across her chest. She regarded him with that same intense state, before setting off without a word to him. He quickly caught up to her and they were soon walking in sync together, still not a word spoken between them.
"So where should we start searching first?" Alec asked, after a few minutes of silence.
Maria turned to him, a look of contempt on her face.
"I don't know, you've been spending more time with him than I have lately, where do you think he may be? Should we try that dog bar?"
Alec's mouth hung open and he stopped walking. Did this mean she knew about them? Of course she did, she figured it out the other night, probably sooner actually. She watched Jasper the way Isabelle did him.
"Yes, I know what's happening between you two." Maria stated, as she began to walk again, Alec following shortly after.
When she realized Alec wasn't responding she turned and glared at him once more, "I also know that he loves you."
Alec felt his heart tense a bit, but he put up his usual facade.
"You don't know as much as you think you do."
Maria raised her brow and laughed humorlessly, "Oh, really?"
Alec narrowed his gaze, not liking the direction this conversation was heading in. He hardly ever spoke to Maria, now she had the nerve to interrogate him like he was some sort of criminal held by the Clave.
"Yes, really Jasper and I are just friends."
"Of course you are, but he's in love with you and you're in love with the half breed warlock and that's why he took off."
Alec's chest tightened in anger mixed with a little guilt, but he had no idea how to respond. Maria wasn't supposed to know Jasper was gay, nevertheless that he and Alec had been hooking up for the past month.
His facial expression must have given away his paranoid thoughts, because Maria smirked as she spoke again.
"Look I have no idea what is between you and Warlock Bane. I don't care, really. I do care what happens to Jasper and I care about how he feels, which means I do care about what happens between you and him."
Alec clenched his jaw, not liking the feeling of his personal life being thought of anyone's business but his own. Alec had always been a private person, and if it wasn't his family he gave the same respect in return. What right did Maria have to give any input into his life when he never did anything of the sort to her?
Maria stopped in front of him, grabbing his arm as she did so. She stood about six inches shorter than him, but everything about her posture made her seem as tall and imposing as Isabelle. Alec glared at the hand on his arm but then looked up to meet her eyes. She had dark brown eyes, usually narrowed into some sort of angry expression but she was looking at him in a way he had never seen her look before. Her eyes were a bit sad and sympathetic, almost making this girl vulnerable. He didn't know why, they looked nothing alike, but it felt a bit like Isabelle was looking at him that way.
His glare softened, and Maria released her grip on him.
"I know you're not any of my business, but Jasper is. He's my parabatai, my best friend, and he means the world to me so he is my business and as his parabatai I have to look out for him whether it's while fighting demons or dating."
Alec wanted to scoff and say what he and Jasper were doing certainly wasn't dating, but he thought better of it. That was the other Alec, and he didn't want to be that guy anymore, it was exhausting. He wondered how Jace maintained such a façade over his teenage years.
Instead, he simply nodded his understanding. The bond between parabatai was an intense one, one that few understood. Even among Shadowhunters there were only a few who understood as not people took the oath. It bonded you for life in so many ways, but Alec understood- Jace was to him what Jasper was to Maria.
Maria was still looking at him as he snapped out of his reverie.
"I used to like him, before we took the oath that is."
Alec's eyes widened, okay this was too similar. Even now when he realized those years of crushing on Jace were just his way of protecting his heart, it still didn't change the fact he had spent most of his teen years believing his own lie.
Maria chuckled at Alec's shocked look, not knowing the real reason he looked that way. Maria hardly ever chuckled she was far too serious for that which something she and Alec had in common. Another thing they had in common apparently.
"We were about twelve and we had been best friends forever, and I guess I had a small crush on him. I didn't understand how someone who had been through as much as him could be so . . . optimistic and happy and . . . kind. Jasper was though, and I swore we were going to have one of those mundane romances where the two best friends fall in love."
Alec smirked internally, wondering if Simon had once thought the same thing of Clary. It was a bit strange as the past three years he had always focused on all their differences but in this short conversation had already found so many similarities between the two institutes.
"And then he asked me to be his parabatai and I was disappointed because it's illegal for parabatai to date or anything. I said yes, obviously because it means he loved me in some way if he asked me to take the oath with him. Then we got older and I started dating guys and he did nothing, and if anyone teased him about him he'd get a girlfriend for like a week and you could tell he wasn't interested because he didn't give girls much attention besides me or Jenna. It just clicked one day."
Maria gnawed on her lower lip a nervous habit Alec was accustomed to himself, but not on other people and certainly not Maria.
"I kept thinking he would tell me eventually, I mean we're parabatai. It never happened though, and then you came along and I could tell by the way he acted around you he liked you. I don't know when you noticed, but . . . this past month he's been acting even stranger, going on hunts without me, staying out late hours, and he got really angry with Nick the other day when he suggested you were probably going to get back with the warlock."
"Magnus," Alec corrected automatically.
Maria raised her brows, surprised by the interruption and then looked at the ground.
"I guess Nick was right though. You still want to . . . I mean you still have feelings for him?"
Alec just stared, unsure of how to answer the question to Maria when he couldn't even answer it for himself.
"There's a lot going on right now, I'm not sure of anything."
Maria glanced back up at him, searching his face as if it would give away if he were lying or not.
"You're a nice guy Alec. I know you and I aren't exactly close, but I can tell."
Alec raised his brow in question.
"Your eyes, they give away what you're feeling all the time and I can tell it hurts you to hurt other people, despite how hard you try to act otherwise."
Alec opened his mouth to protest. He didn't feel such a great guy lately, especially as he spoke with the parabatai of the boy who loved him and he had just used to get over someone else.
"Just promise me that when we find him, that whatever is going on in this annoying cliché love triangle of yours, Jasper won't get hurt. If you hurt him, I swear by the Angel-"
Alec cut her off, "I promise not to hurt him."
Maria looked him up and down as if something in his face or posture would give away if he was being honest or not. Finally their eyes met and she nodded her belief.
"I trust you." Maria declared and turned away, beginning to walk again.
After a moment of thought, Alec followed her- still unsure of where they would find Jasper. Maybe a skate park or one of those mundane places he liked so much? Jasper had always loved those types of places.
Maria glanced back at him, "Where did you two go the other night? Before you got inebriated at a were bar."
Alec sighed, a place that had once been like his private sanctuary was basically known to everyone at the institute at this point-Jasper, Jace, now Maria.
"The mundane park, it's about five minutes away from here. Why? Jasper only ever went there with me once."
Maria rolled her eyes, "Because it's about you idiot. I swear all Shadowhunter men have slower brain functioning than the average mundane."
Alec glared at her, "Good thing you're dating one then."
Maria shot him a look, before they both took off in the direction of the park, Alec very much doubtful Jasper would be there.
Once again sorry for the slow update, finals just recently ended and I've been getting my life together slowly sorry this was a bit of a filler but there will be more action/romance soon!