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He really didn’t know how in the world they were able to make him go there. Maybe it’s been Izzy’s fault, who didn’t know what privacy was and told Alec about his argument with Clary. Or maybe it was because of Magnus, who had just looked at him briefly before saying that he looked terrible.
But no, no, it’s been definitely Alec’s fault, who set him up like a Parabatai should never do.
Jace should have sensed that the text was a trap.
“ Please come to Magnus’ place we need you” . As soon as he read the text he was already running down the aisles of the Institute without even stopping for a second and checking their Parabatai bond. So in the end, it turned out to be his own fault.
Holy Angel .
“Are you having fun?”
“Yeah,” Jace said with a voice that suggested the very opposite of fun, “Can’t you see that?”
Magnus patted him on the shoulder and Jace felt like punching him in the face.
“Hey, don’t be so euphoric or I could think you are enjoying my party just too much.”
“Don’t you have a boyfriend you can make out with in some dark corner?”
Magnus laughed and sipped his drink. “That’s not a bad idea, you know? Thank you for the hint.”
Jace pulled a face as he took the glass from his hand and gulped the drink in one sip. He almost choked.
“What the hell was that?” he asked breathless and Magnus laughed again.
“Something too strong for you, apparently,” he mocked him and then left, almost sailing among his guests. Jace coughed. He was in such a bad mood he could have ended up beating someone, but then he saw something that made him stop abruptly and stare. Slowly the thin line of his mouth started to bend in the shape of a amused smile.
So that’s what they mean by karma , Jace thought, and grabbed another of those awful drinks, sipping it slowly while he enjoyed what was going on from across the room.
“You know,” Alec was saying, one hundred percent drunk, “your house is cool.”
Magnus smiled and gently took the glass from his hand - the last of many, Jace suspected - asking him how many of those drinks he had had.
“Oh, I don’t know. Four, maybe? Or five? Whatever,” Alec answered and reached out to touch Magnus’ shirt, just where the fabric met his bare skin.
“Okay, honey, no more alcohol for you. Possibly forever . Come on, just sit here and-”
“Are you single?”
Jace put his half full glass in the hand of a random guest and pulled out his phone, turning the camera on. What was going to come was something worth to be captured.
“No, Alec,” Magnus sighed patiently, pushing Alec’s black hair away from his sweaty forehead.
Alec looked like his heart just broke. Jace could see him bit his lower lip as his eyes got watery.
“But-- I love you,” he said and the tears fell on his red cheeks.
“Oh my,” Magnus murmured pressing the palm of his hand against his face, like he was feeling very ashamed. Jace made sure Magnus was right in the eye of his camera.
“Please, Magnus,” Alec cried and took Magnus’ face in his white, cold hands, planting a drunk kiss on his mouth. “Please,” he repeated as he cried like a child. Jace moved his phone just to catch the funny faces of the guests who were looking at them. That would be a great video, no doubt about that. He took mentally note to make a hundred copies of it, just in case.
In the end, Magnus was able to get Alec in their bedroom and locked the door behind them. Jace stopped the video and put his phone in his pocket, smiling in triumph and taking another drink to celebrate that pleasant turn of events.
Alec seemed about to cry again, but this time he was quite sober and quite ashamed.
“Oh my God,” he repeted for the hundredth time as he hid his face behind his hands. Jace, who sat next to him, smiled in a very not angelic way.
“You are going to blackmail me forever , aren’t you?” Alec asked desperately.
“Please note that you were the one who set me up and made me go to that stupid party. I should sound offended, not you.”
“I hate you.”
“Still, you remain my Parabatai until, like, your last day.”
“I hate you so much .”
Jace laughed and took his phone from Alec’s hand. “Clary’s waiting for me. I can’t wait to show her this precious little thing.”
“Jace,” Alec moaned, “please.”
“Okay, I’ll offer you a deal.”
“I’m listening.”
“If you promise you won’t try to cheer me up anymore, I promise I won’t show anybody this video.”
Alec took the deal without second thoughts. “Deal, deal.”
“All right! We have an accord, so.”
Magnus walked in the room after a while, sitting next to Alec.
“Do you think he will honor the deal?”
Alec sighed. “I hope so.”
“You know,” Magnus said as his fingers ran through Alec’s messy hair, “there’s this magic that let me put onto paper any memory. So, if you have some compromising memory about Jace…”
Alec thought about it for a second, but then he refused. “Nah, it’s fine. He will honor the deal.”
Magnus kissed his right temple. “As you wish, my dearest one.”
(Few days later Clary showed up at the Institute and her mouth trembled suspiciously as she approached him to say hi. Alec chatted a little with her, then he asked her to excuse him, because he needed to talk to Magnus very urgently .
And so, the Parabatai war started.)