"Alec, I can't eat anymore!" Sebastian protested as Alec gestured to his half eaten breakfast.
"You still need to put weight back on," Alec replied.
"I am naturally skinny," Sebastian said indignantly, "not all of us can be as fit and muscular as you."
Izzy peered over the edge of her magazine as she heard Sebastian's comment, but Alec didn't seem to pay any attention to it.
"I'm going stir crazy in this place," Sebastian complained.
He had been making similar statements of late, as he'd been staying in the Institute for a week, and he hadn't been allowed to leave.
"You need to get your strength back," Alec said, and Sebastian groaned at the response.
"Please can I go? I'll make you Crème Brule for a fortnight!"
"You cannot bribe me with food," Alec said, "and after a few nights I would get sick of the same dish."
"Then I'll make you a degustation menu every night."
"That would not give you adequate time to rest."
Alec smiled at the comical expression on Sebastian's face, however his smile disappeared as Alec saw Sebastian eyes started to widen, and his face fall.
"Oh no you don't. You are not using your puppy dog eyes on me," Alec warned, but even as he spoke Sebastian only changed his features to look more adorable than should have been possible.
"Oh fine, one hunt! But then no more complaining," Alec said, finally caving in.
Sebastian's face shifted into one of victorious laughter, and he briefly hugged Alec, an action that he would usually be uncomfortable with, although Alec found himself not minding so much with Sebastian.
"Why is he so happy?" Jace asked as he walked in and saw the huge grin on Sebastian's face.
Jace had become more tolerable of Sebastian as time had progressed, but both now knew to avoid the topic of names and family.
"Guess who's going on a hunt," Sebastian said gleefully.
"I knew you'd give in eventually," Izzy said to Alec as she watched Sebastian start to clear the breakfast plates.
Sebastian had always been very independent, and although his Aunt had tried to raise him as best she could he had never quite been her son, and so he had learned to pull his weight from a young age. Alec found it very relaxing to have someone else also taking care of the place, as he'd had to play the parent for pretty much his whole life, while his parents seemed content with becoming increasingly less present in the lives of any of their children. Now with both parents staying in Alicante, and not even in the same home, it seemed that the Lightwood family was more separate than ever.
"I think there's some spare gear in the training room, I'll take you up there and see if we can find anything that fits," Alec said to Sebastian.
Sebastian had been wearing a combination of Alec and Jace's wardrobe, as he wasn't quite the same height as either boy, and was much slimmer than both. The results were often shirts that hung off of his body, and jeans that either dragged along the floor, or ended above his ankles.
"How about this one?" Alec asked as he pulled out a leather short sleeve shirt.
Sebastian walked forward, clad in only leather trousers, the only pair they could find that had fit him. Alec had the sneaking suspicion that they were actually designed for women, but he chose to remain silent. Alec couldn't help but trail his eyes over Sebastian's torso, noticing that he was regaining muscle, and he looked like he was now at a natural litheness, rather than the underweight appearances he'd first arrived with. Sebastian nodded approvingly and pulled the shirt on, which fit him perfectly, aside from being a little too short, and exposing the top of his prominent hipbones. Sebastian covered this however with a weapons belt that he slung his rapier into, and couple of daggers, just in case.
"Not bad," Sebastian said as he looked down at himself, seeming to be mostly amazed by the fact that he'd found a pair of hunting boots that fit.
"I'll just chuck on my stuff and I'll be down in a few minutes," Alec said as he headed towards his room, quickly picking up his bow and arrows on the way out.
Alec had purposefully chosen early morning as a time to go hunting, as there was always less demon activity at that time of day. Usually there were a few demons hanging about left over from the night, but mostly they returned to their demon dimension before the sunrise. Still, Sebastian was itching to find something to hunt, and he reminded Alec of Jace at that moment, so desperately looking for a fight. Eventually the shadow hunters decided to split up in the hopes of finding more activity that way, and Alec paired off with Sebastian, as the newest shadow hunter was most comfortable with Alec. Sebastian was also still technically Alec's responsibility, so it made sense for Alec to hunt with him, rather than Jace. Alec used to only ever fight alongside his parabatai, but with Clary now accompanying the Lightwoods on their usual rounds, he had been spending less and less time with Jace, although as he walked the streets with Sebastian, he hardly noticed. The glimmer of hope and excitement in Sebastian's eyes made Alec feel strangely free in his presence, and he found it easy to simply be around Sebastian, something rather unusual for the shy shadow hunter.
"Found one! Over there!" Sebastian said excitedly as he pointed out a demonic mass in an alleyway.
The two boys soon went to investigate, and found five demons cowering in the shadows, rather than just one. Their exact shapes were hard to make out, but that didn't matter too much as Alec walked forward until he found some loose brickwork to crouch behind as he prepped his bow and gestured Sebastian forward. Without needing to verbally communicate the two understood each other's actions, and Sebastian snuck around behind the demons, only attacking once he was in position to drive them forward and into Alec's shooting range. Alec easily shot down three of the demons, and whilst he was taking care of them Sebastian lunged at the other two, using his sword, which appeared as if it were nothing more than an extension of his arm, to artfully slay the remaining demons. The two had eradicated the group within a few minutes, and neither of them could quite believe how they had been able to work together so well.
Alec's focus was drawn away as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and he pulled it out to reveal a text from his sister.
"Do you want to meet up with my siblings and some other friends for lunch?" Alec asked as Sebastian walked over to him.
"Sure, where are we going?"
"It's a place called Taki's, kind of a family favourite. Not the finest delicacies, but you can get some interesting food."
"Well then, let's do it," Sebastian said with his usual enthusiasm, that Alec was finding was very infectious. Well, for him at least.
Alec watched as Sebastian stepped into the diner and looked around with his usual intense curiosity, observing the interior as if it were the first time he had ever experienced such a place. Although, in his defense, it probably was the first time he'd ever been into a diner.
"Obviously you already know Izzy and Jace, and this is Clary, Simon, Jordan, and Maia," Alec said as he pointed each person out to Sebastian, "everyone, this is Sebastian."
"The real non-evil one," Sebastian added. "Nice to meet you all."
The booth they were sitting in was a little cramped from all the people, and so Alec and Sebastian ended up being pressed up against one another, but neither of them commented on the position.
"I hope your demon hunting went better then ours, we found nothing, so we called it quits pretty quickly," Jace said, obviously frustrated by the failure.
"Well, there are five less demons in the world," Sebastian said.
"I'm amazed he actually let you fight, he's been so protective," Izzy said whilst eying her brother.
"I have not! Sorry for trying to actually to get Sebastian better," Alec replied, and Sebastian chuckled softly.
With their current position Alec could feel the vibrations coming off of Sebastian's body, and he elbowed the younger Nephilim playfully. At that moment the food the others had already ordered arrived, and Sebastian gaped at it.
"How can you eat that much?" He asked in shock, not used to American servings, which he was startled to discover were much larger than he had expected.
The others looked a little uncomfortable, not sure whether to laugh or tell Sebastian off, but Alec made the decision for them, as he smiled broadly and shook his head.
"You sound so foreign when you say that," Alec told Sebastian.
"I am foreign," he replied stubbornly, but the slight upwards pull at the corners of his mouth gave away his amusement.
"You were too sheltered in Paris," Alec said.
"How dare you insult my city!" Sebastian said as if outraged, but once again his smile showed he was nowhere near upset.
"I didn't realize the whole place belonged to you," Alec replied, which made Sebastian throw his head back and laugh.
"You should become and lawyer, you have a natural talent for creating come backs," Sebastian said sarcastically once he had recovered.
"It's my backup, in case shadow hunting doesn't work out," Alec said, surprising everyone, including himself, as he continued to joke with Sebastian.
He was usually the serious older brother, however that did not mean he was never playful, and Sebastian seemed to have a skill at drawing out his more spontaneous side.
"I know that there's more of us than the two of them, but I still feel like I'm third wheeling," Jordan said softly, and Alec and Sebastian were too distracted to notice his words.
"Yeah, they really get along well together…" Izzy said with a devious smile, and she looked up at Jace, and could tell he was thinking the same thing. "Who knows what will happen next…"