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Alec was proud of his fighting ability. He practiced for hours every day, honing his archery skills as well as his hand-to-hand combat. He knew his mother expected more - she always did - but he was trying his best and she often praised him after a long day of training.
Isabelle was fiercely competitive, but she was only nine years old. Alec had more experience and physical strength, so he won their sparring matches easily (though sometimes he would offer her an opening to beat him when she was having a bad day). Maryse reprimanded him when he did that. "You mustn't give her a sense of false confidence. Winning a fight in the real world is a matter of ability, not sympathy."
Alec could never suppress the urge to care for his younger siblings. No matter what his mother said, he would try and cheer up Isabelle in whatever way he could when she was feeling inadequate. Even though his father told him he should spend more time studying in the library, he wouldn't sacrifice his daily play time with two-year-old Max for anything. They looked up to him, he was their big brother, and that meant the world to him.
Alec definitely wasn't the best young Shadowhunter in the Institute, but Alec was the best young Shadowhunter in his family.
Until Jace came along.
When his parents had told him about the new arrival to the Institute, Alec felt sympathetic to the turmoil this young boy must be going through. He figured the new Shadowhunter would have trouble dealing with the change of a new family and a new home. Alec was fully prepared to support his new younger brother the way he did for his other siblings. But Jace didn't need the support Alec was expecting.
Their first meeting was more of a competition than an introduction. The blonde Shadowhunter sauntered into the training room with the confidence of an adult, even though he was Isabelle's age. His precision and strength surpassed Alec's, and the way he spoke made the older boy feel like a bumbling idiot.
Jace was better than Alec in pretty much every capacity and though Alec admired him, he couldn’t help the bitterness that crept up his throat when his parents praised the other boy’s abilities.
They clashed in this way for at least a month, Alec pushing himself to the limit to keep up with Jace while his adopted brother stole the spotlight. Jace appealed to Isabelle in the way that he wasn’t afraid to break the rules. Jace appealed to Max by stealing treats from the kitchen for him. Alec began to feel invisible.
That changed when their studies introduced the concept of Parabatai. Jace was obviously conflicted about the idea; he would ask Robert many unsettling questions. “Why would trusting another person make you stronger? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Well,” their father replied, “a Parabatai bond is closer than any other bond in this world. The other person’s strength becomes your strength; you become twice the Shadowhunter you would be on your own.”
Jace thought about this for days. He kept pestering Robert and Maryse about it, and he wanted to train with Alec more and more frequently.
One day, in the middle of a sparring match, Jace lowered his weapon and said, “If I’m ever going to have a Parabatai, I think it will be you.”
“What?” Alec was astounded.
“We make a pretty good team, Alec,” Jace said matter-of-factly, “I’m loud, you’re quiet; I prefer close-range fighting, you prefer archery. We make up for each-other’s weaknesses. Isn’t that what it’s about?”
“I mean, I guess. Being Parabatai is a pretty big deal though.”
Jace looked at him and Alec felt lost in his multi-coloured eyes. “Alec, you’re the first person I’ve let myself care about in a long time. I trust you.”
Alec’s breath caught in his throat and he looked down at the ground, trying to hide the warmth of his face. For the first time since Jace had arrived, he felt sharply and brightly visible.
He wasn’t sure if he liked how it felt.