Chapter 2

A haze of dizziness and sudden fatigue overcame Jace as he tossed open the door to his room and collapsed onto the bed. His head was throbbing and his eyes slowly lulled shut, as he wondered why he was so tired after consuming so much caffeine. But he didn't care enough to worry – maybe his coffee had been spiked. At least now he might be able to sleep without the thick barrier of restlessness in his way.

But as soon as his head hit the pillow, thoughts spiralled around in Jace's head and kept him awake. The events of that night were constantly rerunning again and again, as he tried to figure out what could have possessed him to kiss Alec.

Alec Lightwood had always been like a brother to Jace, since he'd been sent to the New York Institute at the age of 10. They'd been there for each other for years, through thick and thin and even through the recent Mortal War. By the Angel – they were parabatai! And yet it had felt so right to be kissing Alec.

This, Jace couldn't work out. It wasn't as though he was desperate – he had Clary, after all, and he couldn't wish for anything more. Not to mention the fact that it would be dangerous for him to do anything more than a single kiss since the heavenly fire inside of him would burn him to ash if he got too excited.

The fact that he could be potentially attracted to a guy didn't bother Jace that much. He'd always wondered whether his sexual orientation was exclusive to females, so he wasn't entirely surprised. But Alec? Surely he wasn't suddenly developing feelings for him – it was wrong, not to mention illegal.

Jace must have spent the whole night thinking things over, ideas, thoughts and seemingly random feelings tumbling about. He never did come to any conclusion, but was still in a daze of thought when a knock came at the door the next morning.

"Jace?" Clary's soft voice whispered as she eased open the door. He caught a glimpse of her dazzlingly red hair as he sat up, stretching and realising that he really needed to relieve himself. Maybe drinking all that coffee hadn't been such a great idea. He got up as Clary entered, bending to kiss her softly on the lips.

"What was that for?" She asked, blushing almost redder than her hair. Jace shrugged, pushing past her to leave the room. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Nature calls!" Jace answered, rushing towards the bathroom.

Clary obediently waited outside the bathroom, doodling on the doorframe with a pencil. Jace seemed to be acting strange this morning, especially since he had still been in bed, fully clothed, at such a late hour in the morning. When he emerged from the bathroom, he looked weirder still, with a quicker, jumpier pace as he strolled down the hall after planting yet another unexpected kiss on her cheek. He avoided her gaze, and held a pained expression as though there was a guilty conscience nagging at him that she couldn't hear.

"What time is it?" He asked as they stepped into the elevator travelling to the ground floor of the majestic Institute.

"Almost eleven," Clary told him. "By the way, I'm pretty sure I saw Alec asleep by the front door when I walked in. Is he OK?"

"I'm sure he's fine." His reply was a little too quick, as if he'd been expecting the question. But before Clary could ask if he was OK, the doors opened and they stepped out onto the ground floor of the Institute.

Sure enough, Alec was still curled up at the door, head rested against the wall and eyes closed to conceal the sea blue that gleamed beneath his eyelids. Upon arrival, Clary had considered waking him up, unable to ignore him since his long legs were stretched out and taking up half of the hall. But taking in his position, she decided that it would probably be best if someone other than her was to wake him, since she was sure he wouldn't be too thrilled if he woke with a fierce hangover to the sight of her.

Jace, however, barely took any notice of his parabatai. The blonde boy chanced a quick glance at Alec, before turning away suddenly and leading Clary off towards the kitchen. She frowned but followed, telling herself that there had to be a simple reason for his strange behaviour, but still feeling a little worried.

In the kitchen, a strange smell hung in the air. Isabelle Lightwood was cooking… something in a pan, humming away to herself until she noticed Clary and Jace entering the room. She beamed at them, her ruby necklace rested on her chest.

"Hey," she greeted them. "I made pancakes – you want some?" Jace scoffed, shaking his head as he strolled over and started making some coffee. "Clary? Fancy a pancake?"

Clary took one look at the unappealing yellow mess in the pan and suddenly lost any appetite she might have had before. "Erm… No thanks."

Izzy shrugged. "Suit yourself." She continued to watch the pan as her so called "pancakes" cooked.

"Isabelle," Jace said. "Might I mention that your brother is very inconveniently blocking the doorway? You may want to ask him to move or demons will run havoc over the city if we can't get out."

"What?" Izzy dropped the spatula she was holding and rushed out into the hall, crying her brother's name when she saw him passed out by the door. Jace sighed and turned off the hob she'd left on, slowly making his way out of the kitchen with a cup of steaming coffee in hand. Clary watched him with a suspicious glare – he was acting strange again. Didn't he care what had happened to his parabatai?

When they reached the door, Izzy was already desperately fussing over her brother. He was gradually gaining consciousness, and Clary couldn't tell whether Isabelle was angry or worried – she seemed to be worrying and shouting at the same time.

"Clary, maybe you should go home," Jace told her. "I'll call you later." Clary nodded, vowing that if he didn't call, she would be back at the Institute to confront him about why he was acting the way he was.

Alec woke to the irritating sound of his little sister practically screaming in his ear, contributing to his already agonising headache. There were dry tears on his skin, in streams down his cheeks from where he'd been crying the night before. But thankfully, the sobs had left his system, and he was now left with a splintering pain over his left eyebrow and a ringing in his ears.

There was a fuzzy haze over Alec's vision, but he was pretty sure he saw the red of Clary's hair as he looked up. She disappeared out of sight a moment later, supposedly leaving the Institute. Isabelle, however, was knelt in front of him, looking at him with an expression full of fright. He wondered how bad he looked, but knowing Izzy, she was probably overreacting.

"By the Angel – Alec, what happened to you?! You didn't come home last night, we didn't know what had happened to you, and now…" Izzy was rambling; scolding him for not coming home, whilst simultaneously worrying about his well-being.

"Stop fussing, Izzy. He was probably just with Magnus all night." Alec looked up to see Jace at the other end of the hall, brushing his hair off his face as he spoke. He looked normal, wearing the same clothes as he had been last night, but Alec couldn't help but let his eyes wander and settle on the blonde boy's lips, reliving the kiss they had shared. It may have been brief, but the passion and urgency of it had set alight a burning desire that Alec had been ignoring for years. But, at the same time, Jace's lips had been soft, soothing Alec's heartache and wiping away his tears. Jace knew full well what was going on – why was he feigning ignorance?

"Actually, I was," Alec said, surprised by the sturdiness of his voice. "But that was early in the evening. He broke up with me."

"What?!" Isabelle practically screamed. "Why the fuck would he do that?"

"I –"

"I'm going over there right now!"

"Oh, Izzy, please don't –"

"No! No one breaks up with my brother and gets away with it!" And with that she was gone, hand tightened on her whip and the seraph blade at her belt as she stormed out of the Institute. Alec wondered what she would do when she saw Magnus, and just hoped she wouldn't hurt him. It was Alec's fault after all.

Alec saw Jace out of the corner of his eye, turning to leave without even a glance back at Alec. He didn't even flinch when Alec called his name. Alec hastily scrambled to his feet, desperate to catch Jace before he could disappear off somewhere – Jace had always been very good at disappearing when he wanted to. The Institute was empty: the perfect time for them to talk without being rudely interrupted. And after what had happened the night before, they really needed to talk.

Eventually, Alec did catch up and called out to Jace yet again, but the other boy seemed to be insistent in ignoring him. "Jace!" Alec said one final time as he grabbed the boy's shoulder and pulled the blonde back to face him. But maybe he had used just a tad too much force, as Jace jerked up his arm as he turned, the coffee he held flying into the air. The hot liquid inevitably splashed all over the boy's front, soaking his shirt and seeping through to burn his flesh.

"Oh God! I'm so sorry!" Alec cried, jumping out of the way as the cup hurtled down to smash on the wooden floor.

"Shit!" Jace exclaimed, before unexpectedly grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it off before the coffee could burn him anymore. Alec hadn't seen this coming, and his eyes widened at the sight of Jace's bare chest. He could feel a hot blush rising in his cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he said again, trying to evade his wandering gaze from Jace's abs. "Are you OK?"

"Yes," Jace said, a sigh in his tone. "Yes, I'm fine. Nothing an iratze won't heal." He looked at Alec, and for a second he thought the blonde might laugh. But instead he just sighed and looked away. "I'll just go and change," he murmured, before trying to pass Alec. But instead of letting him go, Alec put a hand on the other boy's shoulder to stop him, feeling how hot the flesh was there and willing his mind to think less erotic thoughts.

"Are we going to talk about what happened last night?" He asked, gulping nervously.

"There's nothing to talk about," Jace insisted.

"Yes, there is. I might have been a little drunk last night, but not so much that I hallucinated. And you were the one that initiated that kiss."

"Well, maybe I was also a little under the influence," Jace lied. It was obvious that he was lying in the way his shoulders tensed defensively when he spoke. "And there was no kiss."

"Don't do this, Jace."

"Don't do what?"

"Don't pretend it didn't happen just so you don't have to worry about it." Alec could feel an authoritative edge to his tone which he hadn't meant to add.

Jace leaned a little closer, a warning in the look he sent Alec. "There's nothing to worry about. Alec, I don't know what you're talking about."

"But that kiss…"

"Alec, how many times do I have to tell you – there was no kiss!" Jace snapped. That was the last straw for Alec – he wasn't about to walk away when Jace was so insistent on pretending that last night had never happened.

"Fine!" he shouted at the blonde. "If you refuse to admit to that kiss, then what about this one?" Before Jace could react, Alec crushed those enticing lips with his own, wrapping an arm around the other boy's neck when he tried to pull away. It wasn't as if Alec was much stronger than Jace, but that seemed to hold him close. Jace was the better fighter, and if he really wanted to, he could have easily punched Alec in the gut and tackled him to the ground. Alec decided that the fact that he didn't take any of these actions was a good sign. The two boys' lips were pressed together so hard that Alec could feel Jace leaning away, and considered easing off a bit. But he was afraid that if he did, Jace would get away.

But Jace had no intention of pulling away any time soon, even if his conscience was screaming that this was wrong. Soon, he began to succumb to Alec's fierce attack, his lips parting to allow Alec's tongue to slither in and collide with his own. A deep moan escaped from his throat, and suddenly, the gap between them felt like miles and he couldn't take it any longer. He grabbed Alec's hips and pulled them towards his, simultaneously pushing the other boy up against a nearby wall. Alec already had one arm wound around Jace's neck, and it wasn't long before the other joined. By this point, their bodies were completely pressed up against each other.

The kiss grew ever deeper, desperation and urgency striving to meet new heights. But when Alec's teeth nipped Jace's bottom lip, he felt a fire inside him blaze up to the point where he felt as though his whole body was engulfed in a giant flame. He was forced to tear his lips from Alec, scampering away and noticing the burning glow of his skin. He looked to the other boy, seeing the flush of his skin and letting out a sigh of relief that he wasn't physically hurt. But Jace could see the crease in Alec's forehead, like the look of a young boy whose favourite toy had just been taken away from him.

"I'm sorry," Jace said, before hastily fleeing away so that he didn't burn to death in Alec's presence.