"Izzy, open the damn door." Alec shouted while trying to force the door open. He started hitting the door with the side of his fist when he noticed the door adamant.

Izzy was in her room drawing her fall/winter 2006 womenswear collection. At least she was trying to. Something constantly came up. A training, a mission, a briefing, she just wanted a little time on her own. Just when she had thought to have some, her brother started knocking on the door. Well not exactly knocking, but you know... Izzy let out an audible irritated sigh and got out her bed. She unlocked her door and with a swift yet striking move she opened the door. "What?" She said and cocked her head.

Alec was a little surprised when he saw his sister so pissed off. He knew that he was being a little persistent a moment ago but she wasn't a sensitive one, at least not in this way. "Wait, first, what happened to you?" He inquired and pushed the door wider open so he could come in. He grabbed his bag and stepped inside, noting her drawing supplies on her bed. He got a glimpse of what she was drawing but couldn't exactly tell what it was.

Izzy was just saying that it was nothing much with her when her brother just walked in, like she had given him permission or anything. She realized that she couldn't do anything to change that fact so the smartest move was just to handle what he came for as smoothly as possible. "Why are you here brother?" She asked much friendlier this time.

Alec eyed at her a little suspicious but realized he was in a hurry. "You know that new jacket mom got Jace?" He inquired, knowing that she was in fact aware of it. "I kinda ruined it. Like, a lot." He said before a dry swallow. "His Versace jacket?!" Izzy spoke surprised while he was turning his bag around and letting the black leather jacket fall on the table. It had scratches and creases all over it.

"Alec." Izzy said, her voice faded into a heartbreaking silence. Still, Alec could feel that she was genuinely worried too. "I know, I know, I screwed up but for now you gotta help me." He said narrowing his big maple colored eyes.

"I don't know what to do Alec." She said with a faint shake of her head. She picked up the jacket with her right hand. Feeling the hardened leather. It had lost it's color somewhat and the first soft jacket now felt like a tree stump. It felt dead. "Can't we iron it?" Alec asked almost desperate., upon she answered. "You can't iron leather love, unfortunately." The news angered Alec a bit, although it was more of a hopeless anger, mad anger. The kind that grows from fear. Izzy suddenly realized something.

"How about we swap it with his other one." She pointed to the designer logo on the front of the jacket. "We can put this on the old one. They're both black and he put that one away anyways." A smirk appeared on her face. "Besides, you boys won't be able to tell 'm apart anyways." Izzy could compromise with this idea, it would take a while from her time, but she would be able to design and make a clothing piece, at least to some extent. Alec thought it through and he saw so many ways it could go wrong, what if he noticed it, or if he ever wanted to wear his old jacket and found out it wasn't there anymore. He looked through the window. 'Come on...' He said to himself.

Then he came with something, turning to Izzy as if he was following an invisible line with his eyes he spoke. "We buy a new one." He continued, still not looking his sister in the eyes. "We must leave now, you like shopping right?" He said more as a statement. "Yes." Her voice extinguished. She didn't know what to say. What was Alec thinking?! She was still trying to fathom how in hell Alec could offer to do something so wild, unauthorized. She had sneaked out in the past often but as far as she knew, her brother never had. "I don't know whether that's such a smart idea Alec." She said with a deeper voice. "You know how to get us out, we'll go to the store, pick it up and come back right away." He spoke easily, he had already started packing up the jacket. Izzy wanted to see this play out, something was definitely off with her brother. She agreed and they left using one of her secret passages. Alec was weirdly not freaking out over this unauthorized trip.

"So which store do we go in." Alec asked eyeing all the people in the street. "Well, in the Versace one of course." She said boosted. "Follow me." She started running, like water through the streets. So free and elegant. No one could see them anyways. Alec followed her. He almost had to use his nephilim speed to catch up to her. She was always so fast. Really fast. The wind embracing their faces, blowing on their necks. They were almost cutting the air, the smog, the filth in the air of the giant city.

Izzy stopped quite abruptly, yet just as elegantly, right in front of the Versace store. Alec was soon to follow, although his arrival was a lot less beautiful, much more wild. He almost hit the glass vitrines of the store. Izzy looked at him and chuckled a bit. The young man turned his look away. "You gotta sneak in right after someone opens that door." Izzy said pointing to the great glass entrance. Alec was still studying the door's mechanism when Izzy had already her target in sight. Well they were more of a entering means but still. "Like so." She said to steal his attention and slipped seemingly easy into the store while the door was still open after the couple left. Alec nodded to her and eyed around for an opportunity. It wasn't very busy at this time of the day. Out of boredom he studied the store. The glasses were in an arc shape at the top and they were at least 5 meters tall. Alec started wondering whether Jace had noticed their absence already, and if so, what they were gonna tell him. The brand logo was placed on each vitrine top with golden letters. Looked stylish, he thought. He checked the door again, only to see that it was open. And closing. He had distracted himself he thought while rushing through the dangerously narrow entrance using his nephilim speed.

Izzy noticed a pleasant smell in the air. The same air that was also unnaturally cold. It was the air in the store. She saw her brother looking at the complete different direction than he was supposed to. She wanted to scream but that would ruin her cover. She waved her arms. Finally he seemed to pay attention. They got reunited. "Keep focused." She said half sarcastically, half bossy. Alec got the message and he replied. "I will." She looked around for any signs. "Menswear is downstairs." Alec said pointing to the most left side of the store. They moved more slowly this time. They couldn't be making any sounds. Alec looked around all the time, trying to get a glimpse of anything black and leathery. They had arrived at the men's section of the luxury store. Alec noticed how much smaller it was than the woman's section. Izzy eyed for the sales assistants and waited for them to go away before extensively looking around. She saw that Alec had already started searching thoroughly. She started covering the other side of the level when she realized something important. The new collection had arrived. No way they were going to find last season's jackets.

Alec noticed his sister making a concerned face. He approached her and gently grabbed her arm. "What is it?" He asked while almost bowing down to reach her eye level. "Alec, that jacket was from last year's collection... They don't sell it anymore." She added, knowing he wasn't going to completely understand what it meant. Alec almost let out a sigh and eye roll but he shook it off. His determination was almost inspirational. "We'll keep looking, I mean this store is huge." He said, trying to motivate her. Izzy looked at him. Curious as to where this passion, endurance and will power came from. She wasn't used to seeing much this side of Alec. "We will." Izzy replied as she headed towards the rows more towards the back. One immediately caught her attention. It was one like she was looking for. She let her fingers go over the collar. She presumed it was lambskin, going by the softness and matt color. The smell of leather was subtle and inoffensive. It appeared to be a good doppelgänger for Jace's original but the differences might be too obvious to him. They were to her. First of all this jacket was so much thicker and bolder. Secondly, the buttons had the Versace logo engraved in them instead of being placed on top of them. And there was this very obvious difference: the zip had a gold-to-silver fade effect. It was a nice addition to the otherwise conventional leather jacket. She continued searching for another jacket but kept this one in her head. If it had to come to this one, she could maybe try to change the zip for the one on the original, or just any silver one.

Alec wasn't as lucky as his sister. All the jackets he had encountered up until now had some out of the ordinary gold decoration. But he wasn't about to give up just yet. A sales assistant had come to the leather section. She did some tweaking on the mannequins and tidied the jacket Alec had checked out moments ago. Alec studied the woman from afar. He noticed how she was trying to be as elegant as possible. As if she knew she wasn't alone in the room. Of course that wasn't actually possible but still, her dedication to staying classy was admirable. Or maybe that's just the way she was, Alec thought. Alec waited for the lady to leave the room. Something struck him. Maybe the store had put the old stuff away to the basement. Wanting to share this idea with Izzy, he immediately headed to her direction.

"Are you serious... Okay it is actually a reasonable idea but, Alec oh my God." Izzy responded confused yet in a sort of awe. She couldn't think of a time Alec broke more rules in a single day. But she had to agree that it kind of made sense. Why hadn't she thought of it, she wondered. She focused on the room beyond Alec. It didn't seem to have any doors other than the connection to the stairs. Then she remembered that the building had a store even below this one. She had noticed at the staircases. "Come on." Alec said quite statically while heading to the stairs. Apparently he had seen the 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' sign as well. They walked carefully down the stairs and held an ear for employees. They heard at least two on the basement floor. It was actually not as difficult as Izzy had expected. The stairs led to a double door without locks. Alec lured through the narrow split. The coast seemed clear so they entered the basement, trying to make as little sound as possible. This floor was much less lit and the pleasant scent like upstairs didn't seem to be hanging in the air here Izzy noted. It seemed to be just one floor, a really big one. With rows and rows of bags and clothes. Izzy felt a rush of electricity through her limbs. Everything was so beautiful and so much. She went to get a closer look of the apparel. She wondered what the store was planning to do with these past collections. Before touching anything she looked for cameras. There didn't seem to be any.

Alec went for a different section. From there he wasn't able to see his sister anymore, but he knew she would be able to manage. He jumped when suddenly hearing the sound of metal. He turned around. It were the two employees they had heard before. With a bunch of clothes on hangers in their hands they were climbing the stairs. Alec felt his heart pounding in his chest. It wasn't beating like crazy but it was notable. Strange. Alec thought. For some reason his body seemed nervous. But he didn't feel nervous. He had nothing to worry about. At least not from the people here. He scanned the rows of clothing. There seemed to be just jeans and bags. He went to Izzy's section. Thinking it would be smarter walking together to the other side of the basement, the part behind the stairs.

"Look what I've found." Izzy said with shimmering eyes while holding a pair of light yellow boots in the air. And a silky white jacket over her other arm. "These are freakin' exclusive!" The pieces were from last year's fall/winter collection and were only distributed to flagship stores with personal approval of Donatella herself. These boots, they were like the holy grail of fashion. Izzy wasn't about to just leave them here. Even if they were a size too big. She was more than content even if she could only wear them after a year or two.

Alec's faced turned a little sour. "Have you looked for the jacket." The slight worry in his tone stroke the importance of his question with a shimmering cold. "I have." Izzy responded a little lightheaded. She had looked for it but realized that she had also given herself too much into her fascination. She watched her brother telling her. "Let go of that and come look with me over there." While he pointed slightly towards the stairs they had descended from. He started moving to there and Izzy made sure to follow. Not putting back anything. The brand wouldn't go bankrupt if they missed these two. She thought.

Alec realized that they had been looking at the wrong side of the basement the entire time. No wonder they couldn't find much at the other side. Most of the menswear was over here. They both approached the row that seemed to have the most black leather clothes. Izzy looked at the row full of the leather garments. There were so many jackets. They looked all so identical but Izzy was able to see the nuances right away. She scanned each of them with her eyes. Alec had already started to look through all of them, inspecting them with his hands as well. "It's not here." Izzy said while already headed to the second row. The jacket they were looking for wasn't on that row although there were two that came really close.

Alec knew that Izzy was much better than he was at this entire fashion stuff, so without wasting any time, he followed after her. He looked at his watch. It had been almost two hours since they had left the Institute. Jace must have had noticed his siblings' absence by now, Alec thought. Izzy went through the black clothes to see if there were any more jackets. "Alec, I found it." She said with relief. "Look." She said taking the leather jacket from it's holder and holding it next to Jace's jacket. "It's the one." Alec knew it was true without doubt but he still took a quick glance before he spoke. "Good. Let's go now." He carefully put the jacket in his bag and turned towards the stairs. "How long has it been?" Izzy asked her brother. She followed after Alec. "Two hours, let's hope Jace hasn't noticed yet." He spoke whilst pushing the double doors open. The staircase was lit brightly and the pleasant smell was still in the air. Alec reached for the money in his pocket but Izzy stopped him. "We don't have time, besides these are from the old collections, they will know." She spoke as they passed the cash register. Alec nodded and continued to the exit.

Getting through the entrance was easier this time around as it was much busier. "You wanna put those in the bag too?" Alec asked pointing to the things she was holding in her hands when they were outside. It would be easier, Izzy thought, but it could possibly ruin them and she wouldn't let that happen. "I'm good. Let's go." She said before starting the sprint back to the institute. Alec was soon running next to her, it wouldn't hurt to ask, she thought. "What's the deal with this jacket. I mean I understand that you don't wanna upset Jace, but you seemed quite determined today." And with 'quite' she meant 'overly', which she also made clear in hear voice and look. Alec thought about her question. Had he been too obsessed? He had kept in mind that he had to play it a little cool and he thought he had. Apparently he was wrong. "I just wanted to clean up the mess I made." Alec said tonelessly, focusing on the road before them. Trying to hide the real reason. Izzy wasn't convinced yet but she didn't want to push it any more because there was a possibility that it was true. She just couldn't help but feel like Alec was keeping something from her.

They snuck back into the Institute and headed for their rooms. Izzy was too excited over her new stuff to help Alec with the last part of the mission. Besides, she knew that he could well handle it on his own. She closed the door behind her and got in her new yellow boots. The feeling was much like she expected it to be. Sturdy, soft and somewhat cold. Fresh cold. The good cold. She walked around a bit, realizing how good she did by getting them. They were the perfect hunting boots since running went without any issue as well. Alec on the other end had to go slowly inside their room to avoid any attention. It seemed that his brother wasn't in their room nor in the bathroom. He hid the plastic bag with the old jacket under his bed and headed for their dress room. He put the leather garment on the shiny hanger with 'Versace' engraved on it. He played with the jacket a little to make it look worn. He was careful to not overdo it. It was around that time when Alec heard the clicks of old metal, the door nod, followed by the swing of a heavy object. Alec instinctively turned around and took a random shirt out the the open drawer. The door of the dress room was closed so it was impossible to see from the outside that the lights in the small space were on. He deliriously took his shirt off to have a solid reason for being here.

Jace had expected Alec and he could do some training at the woods today but Alec seemed to be missing since the morning. After having waited and checked around for 30 minutes, give or take, he gave up on that plan and went to the training hall on his own instead. He worked on his back and stomach for a good two hours. More than he normally did in one take. But Jace didn't mind the muscle pain. The sweat was dripping down from his back by now and his six pack was strongly apparent. The way he always wanted them to be like. Throwing the shirt he had taken off earlier over his shoulders like a towel he headed to his room. Enough training for today. He thought. There were a few matters he still needed to take care of. But he was going to take a shower before anything else. He noted that the door of their room was closed. Suddenly a faint feeling of a presence reached him. He opened the door and noticed that the door to the dress room was closed. Jace slowly approached it. "Alec?" He spoke slightly louder than his normal voice. He was actually quite sure it was him, he could feel his brother. Like an armor of liquid titanium flowing through his veins. The door fell open.

Alec pushed the door gently so that it would slowly fall open. In the meantime he hastily put on the new shirt. It didn't go as smoothly as it normally did. While putting on the shirt he spoke. "Jace." He was now entirely in his shirt and saw his brother. His first indifferent expression quickly molted to a surprised one. He was alarmed. He looked at him. At his body. "Jace." He spoke again, this time reluctantly. It was almost like his name had just slipped out of his mouth, without control nor potency. Aiming to hide his impermanent internal devastation that was going on he put up his usual face. Slightly annoyed with a mix of confusion and innocence. The more he was gathering his mind back together, the more he remembered in what position he was. And that he could absolutely not let Jace be suspicious.

Jace frowned. His brother was acting rather unusual. Jace took a quick glance at his stomach to check if there was something when he saw Alec look at it for the second time. He figured Alec was just randomly looking around. Alec used to do that a lot to avoid actual eye contact, Jace had noticed. Jace chuckled and continued. "You realize that's my shirt right?" He saw one of Alec's shirts on the ground. Probably the one he was wearing before.

Alec looked at the shirt he was wearing. Realizing now why his skin was so strange to this shirt. It was Jace's satin shirt. The marine color appeared the shade of the sky under the bright dress room lights. Alec was slightly surprised but he was able to play it well. "I know. I wanted to wear it once." Alec spoke like water. His mouth was left open slightly as if he was in awe. He was actually but that wasn't the reason behind the reluctancy to unite his lips together.

Jace stared Alec in the eyes, momentarily. A faded smirk and a look of surprise were dominating his features. "So..." With a blink he turned to look out the window. He nodded and pulled his hair back with his right hand before taking a quick look around the room for his towel. As he picked the white soft textile up he got rid of the shirt around his shoulders. "Where when you this morning?" Slightly raising his eyebrows but more so when he saw Alec's autumn eyes wide like apple pies.

It wasn't that Alec had difficulties focusing on his mission here. He just knew that he could permit himself making a mistake or two because Jace wouldn't figure it out anyways. So he peaked at his brother, carefully, as every muscle on his perfectly shaped body changed little of form with every movement. Finally, after realizing he had to respond he blinked. "I..." He swallowed. "I wanted to do a morning jog through Central Park. I had a few too many churros yesterday." He said with a chuckle. It was true, he did run and it was a little through Central Park actually. Alec wasn't doing anything wrong. Right? He was solely admiring perfection, innocent admiration. He got out the dress room and gave the door behind him a push so that it would fall back again.

Jace was already headed to the bathroom door. He made a deep, confirming sound. After having done so with a nod, he opened the door. He only reached his arm because his torso was still turned to Alec. "I'm hitting the showers right now, so you can go after me." He said with a bright expression and a slightly cocked head.

He had completely forgotten that. Of course... People hit the showers after running. Alec realized. "Cool." He spoke shortly and watched from a corner of his eyes as Jace not even gave the subtlest push to the bathroom door, leaving it open. It wasn't a huge deal since he would step in the douche cabin at the end. Jace had been neglecting to close the door in it's entirety for quite a while now. It wasn't really a big deal between them, they had kinda established that. Like blood brothers, they did not have anything to hide from each other. Hence, nudity wasn't a taboo between the younger men nor a topic-of-matter. "Besides, it's not like either of us is interested." Alec recalled Jace saying jokingly when he had asked Jace about the door. If only that were true. Alec had thought back then. Over time Alec started leaving the door open too. Until now he had never peaked. He didn't want things to get worse. With the intent to keep it that way he swiftly turned away when he saw Jace pulling down his joggers. Alec contemplated saying something before he left but eventually decided to keep quiet. He opened the door to the corridor and heard the waters of the douche burst the silence. He gave a push to the door behind him and before heading to the kitchen he stopped and went through everything again and let it sink in. It seemed that his mission was completed, without mistakes. He was a little unprepared when Jace suddenly appeared but apart from the first moments he had played it quite well, he established. He felt the weight lift from his shoulders and contently left.

Jace pulled down his black joggers and threw them in the laundry hamper. He stepped inside the shower cabin and heard Alec opening the door around the same time he closed the cabin door. The midday sun caused the frosted glass of the cabin to convey a lighter tone of the black granite walls. Jace turned the water on, hot and steamy. He liked the feeling of the biting temperature of the water on his tired muscles. From the distance he heard the door closing, but only because of his heightened hearing. Something is up with Alec, Jace thought. It's probably not that big of a deal though, like a girlfriend or something. Jace stood under the beam of water, letting it hit it right on his head. He felt like nothing. Lost, nonexistent under the flow of the liquid. He started rubbing himself. With his right hand from his neck to his chest down to his sides. He poured some shower gel on his left hand and went down similar routes. Grabbing some excessive soap wth his right hand from his abs he went down to his member. He gave it a few rubs and then poured some shampoo from the blue dispenser on his hand. His sister insisted that they used this unpronounceable Japanese brand. He spread the shampoo on his hands and went through his hair with it, pulling it to the back. After having lathered his hair thoroughly he started rinsing. He did a last round of washing his body and then cut the water. He opened the douche cabin and wrapped himself in a towel. With another one he dried his hair. And rubbed the wettest areas on his torso. He headed to the dress room but felt tempted to lie down a bit when he passed his bed. So he did and fell asleep. Not in a deep sleep however. Just a little moment away which he returned from after a short thirty minutes. Jace opened his eyes and thought about what he was going to eat shortly after. For some reason he really wanted some of that strawberry rhubarb cake Robert had brought yesterday. He got up and that's when something unusual caught his eye. There was a bag under Alec's bed. Jace was able to see the bed from the side from his own so that's why he only noticed it now. He normally never payed much attention to Alec's bed but he had never seen a bag there before. Or anything else for that matter. He shrugged and walked over to the dresser. Putting on some Calvin undies and jeans he eyed for a comfortable shirt. He took the Louis v-neck from the hanger and swiftly put it on. It was a deep v-neck and slightly transparent so it made for a perfect shirt after a training. He was headed to the kitchen when his curiosity for the bag reoccurred after merely seeing Alec's bed. "Fuck it." He mumble and got the sport bag from under the bed. Putting it on Alec's bed before opening it, he noticed it was one of the bags from their dress room. He opened the zipper, only to be confronted by a black leather garment. The black wasn't charcoal black like it used to be on black leather garments, it reminded one more of the color of old car tires. He touched it with his right hand. Deep down an uncomfortable worry started bloom. The leather felt unusually rigid and was covered in creases. On some spots it was even scratched to the point that Jace could see the grey of the back of the leather. He lifted the garment and as he did, the thorns of his worry grew deeper and deeper to the point his worry had made place for sadness and confusion. It was his jacket he got from his parents his last birthday. At least, it looked like it. Because how how could it be. With the jacket still in his hand he quickly turned back to the dress room. He took the silver hanger from the section of jackets and felt slightly relieved to see his jacket there. There was still something bugging him. He smelled the jacket that he was holding in his hand. It smelled like detergent. Jace raised an eyebrow. Something really strange was going on here. He then took a sniff of the jacket on the hanger, which smelled like pure leather. Just leather. He remembered putting on some cologne the last time he had worn this jacket so this was alarming. Jace opened the zipper. A red lint with some brand tags fell hanging down. This is not my jacket. Jace realized. He looked down at the jacket in his hands. I don't know how... "But this is." He mumbled.

Alec. That was it. That's why he probably acted so weird and surprised when he saw me. He must have gone to the store this morning to get this new one. Jace realized. His disappointment melted away and joy came in it's place. Alec went through all that trouble for me. Jace smiled. He didn't really mind that it was not that exact jacket. This way the jacket had also been a present from his brother, in a way. He put the hanger back and went to return the old jacket in the bag and under Alec's bed. He chuckled to himself and went out the room. On the hallway to the kitchen he came across Alec who was probably headed to their room. Jace looked at him, in his eyes. They don't usually look each other in the eyes, and less often it is that Jace looks first. He smiled at Alec. And he literally felt Alec's heart glowing as did his. Jace broke the silence. "Got some cake left?" Alec looked down and then back while still getting out the trancelike feeling he replied with a faint nod. "Yes."