Alec hadn't snuck into the Institute too many times, especially when compared to his siblings, and perhaps that was why he and Sebastian were detected the moment they stepped through the doors of the Lightwood home. It was early morning by the time Alec and Sebastian eventually returned from their date, and both Isabelle and Jace were well and truly awake, and had noticed the absence of the two other shadow hunters. As soon as Alec turned back from closing the door behind him he found himself faced with both of his siblings, and he knew in that moment that the peaceful atmosphere between him and Sebastian was lost. Isabelle looked like she was ready to take notes on every detail of the night Alec and Sebastian had shared, and although Alec appreciated how much his sister cared, he often found himself drawing the line on which information was too personal. Jace appeared nowhere near as pleased as Izzy, in fact he looked rather annoyed with the eldest Nephilim.
"Alec, we were meant to have training this morning!" Jace complained, shooting Sebastian a dark look.
"Oh never mind that Jace, I need details," Izzy said, pushing Jace out of the way.
"Shadow hunting is more important than hearing about Alec's love life," Jace said, and Alec internally groaned as the usual family drama started.
"I agree," Alec said, "I'll just go up and get changed, and then I'll be down in a moment to train."
Jace seemed content with this answer, and quickly went to the training room, knowing that Alec would take the shortest amount of time possible to get dressed.
It soon turned out that Jace was wrong, as it took half an hour for Alec to finally arrive at the training room.
"By the Angel, what took you so long? All you had to was throw on your usual gear," Jace said as he watched Alec enter the room.
"I had to have a shower," Alec mumbled in response, and as Jace got a closer look he noticed that Alec was not wearing what he normally did.
Alec and Jace had already planned to go out hunting later that day, so both were dressed in their proper gear, rather than just comfy clothes to train in, however Alec was not wearing his normal attire. Alec had always worn the loosest and least revealing clothes as was possible, which with leather was always a challenge, yet Alec managed to remain quite conservative with his shadow hunting apparel. Well, he usually did, but Jace noticed that he was wearing much tighter clothing, which he had put aside as too tight before, but now seemed ready to embrace. Also, instead of simply tugging on what he was going to wear Alec looked like he had at least pulled a comb through his hair, and he did indeed look like he was fresh out of the shower. All in all such actions would not have been noticeable unless one was familiar with Alec's usual habits, and Jace definitely noticed the difference. Before Jace had a chance to ask why he'd made the effort, Sebastian walked into the training room.
"Sebastian… what are you doing?" Jace asked slowly as he saw that the other boy was also in gear.
"Training, which people usually do in the training room," Sebastian said as he stood next to Alec.
"Yeah but…I thought it was just going to be Alec and I," Jace said as he looked at his parabatai.
"What? Why would that be the case?" Alec said as he started to get ready for training.
"We always train as parabatai," Jace replied.
"Oh come on Jace, we haven't done that in months. In fact we usually have to spend all of our time trying to train Clary. This should be a nice change, actually practicing rather than teaching someone the very basics," Alec said, and he noticed how Jace furrowed his brow, and Alec presumed because this was because of the way he had spoken about Clary.
"Okay then, I guess we better get started," Jace eventually said with less enthusiasm than he'd intended.
Jace scowled as he leant up against the wall of the room and watched Alec and Sebastian train. Everything had started out normally, but soon it had become apparent that Jace was not needed by the two other boys, who were far more evenly matched than either of them with Jace. There was also the issue of Jace's Heavenly Fire, which tended to flare up when training, and meant that he would frequently have to sit out so he could cool down. Alec and Sebastian hadn't noticed that Jace had now been 'calming down' for almost twenty minutes, as the two continued to spar. One battle between them could last forever, and Jace noticed how they were still moving just as fluidly together as they had when they'd been fighting demons. Even then Jace couldn't help but noticed how the two hardly even seemed to communicate, they just understood each other, just like parabatai did. It wasn't uncommon for shadow hunters to also work well with those who they weren't bound to, and Jace had always known that whilst he and Alec balanced each other due to their differing natures, they were not always the best fighting pair, especially when it came to training. Jace had always been faster and stronger than Alec, however the older shadow hunter had accepted this many years ago, but still this meant that neither boy could practice properly, not that they'd minded before, they'd just made things work. As Jace watched Alec and Sebastian continue to practice he couldn't help but think that they looked more like parabatai, and Sebastian could offer Alec a partner much more beneficial than someone who could easily beat him and possibly burn through him if he got too into the fight. Jace sighed loudly, although no one else noticed the sound, and he continued to look on as Sebastian and Alec occasionally shot each other smiles as each one looked like they might win. Eventually Alec caught Sebastian off guard and managed to trip him, however Sebastian dragged Alec down with him, so the older boy fell on top of him. Jace stood up straight as he perceived the end of their sparring, but he soon noticed that neither of the shadow hunters were taking any further action, instead they had become lost in each other, and Jace coughed loudly before the moment became too intimate. Alec and Sebastian finally looked away from each other and stood up, and then looked over at Jace.
"Are you feeling better?" Sebastian asked, and Jace nodded, although his frustration was still clear.
"What's wrong? You annoyed you can't train properly because of the Heavenly Fire?" Alec asked as he started to stretch out his body, and Sebastian's eyes followed each movement intensely.
"That's not the problem," Jace mumbled, and Alec have him a quizzical look.
"Then what's stopping you from training?" Alec asked.
"Maybe the fact that you're turning this into a date," Jace said, and Sebastian's gaze became focused on him.
"We're just training, nothing 'unprofessional`'," Sebastian said casually, and his blasé attitude further annoyed Jace.
"Sure you are, that's why I can't even spar with my parabatai for five seconds," Jace said to Sebastian.
"I am not stopping you," Sebastian said, his tone becoming tenser.
"Really? Because the desperate looks you keep giving him are enough on their own to put me off," Jace snapped at Sebastian.
"Jace! Do not speak to him like that," Alec said as he stepped between the two.
"And here we are again, you choosing him over me," Jace said, and even as he said them he regretted his words.
Some part of Jace was aware that he was lashing out at Sebastian because he felt somewhat replaced by him, as highlighted through the training session, and even though he knew he was upsetting Alec he couldn't seen to stop himself from snapping.
"Jace, the only reason we haven't trained together in so long is because the second you met Clary you started to completely ignore me. It's okay, I'm over it by now, but don't you even think about saying I'm neglecting you, because you choose Clary over your parabatai every time," Alec replied, instantly silencing Jace, who couldn't disprove his words.
Alec gave Jace one final hurt look, and he then left the training room, and Sebastian quickly followed him, and to Jace's surprise, Alec actually seemed very glad for the company and comfort, yet another thing his parabatai no longer offered him.
A/N I am so sorry for not updating for so long! I have now sorted out the plot and planning, so I will be publishing frequently once again. Reviews are still much appreciated, as always, so please do R&R.