Work Text:
Alec hates blushing, the way any normal person would hate their body betraying emotions they would much rather hide. He despises the way the color and heat so easily rose into his cheeks, sometimes even down his neck and up to the tips of his ears - and then his embarrassment over feeling the blush and knowing it’s there only makes him blush more, in a cursed, never-ending cycle. It’s something his siblings and some of the meaner classmates use against him often, and he can’t think of a single good thing about blushing.
Until he meets Sebastian.
Alec has exactly three good friends - two of them are Jace and Izzy, and Izzy almost doesn’t count because she’s his sister even if they do get along for the most part - and the third is Aline, who also only half-counts since she’s mostly his friend through association with Izzy. So it makes sense that when Aline’s cousin shows up Alec would consider him a potential 4th friend to add to that small circle.
The day Alec meets Sebastian Verlac it starts with a blush, but not Alec’s for once.
Izzy makes a joke about something Aline told her about Sebastian, causing Sebastian to blush ever so slightly - and Alec thinks the burst of color is the prettiest thing on him. It’s the first time Alec’s ever thought anything positive about blushing.
Then Alec blushes just for thinking it because he knows he shouldn’t. His and Sebastian’s eyes meet for just a moment before they’re both looking away quickly. Alec catches Sebastian staring at him a few more times after that, and he knows that Sebastian knows. He has to.
Alec finds him later on after dinner to… apologize? Explain himself? Lie about what happened? He isn’t sure what he’s going to say but he needs to say something before Sebastian starts spreading rumors, or before he decides he doesn’t want to be Alec’s friend because Alec had to go and make things awkward when they only just met.
“Sebastian? Can we talk for a minute?” Alec asks him quietly, trying not to draw attention.
Sebastian nods and follows Alec outside the main doors for a bit of privacy.
“Listen, about earlier…” Alec starts.
“Sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” Sebastian says before Alec can say anything, and Alec is shocked.
“What?” Alec asks, confused.
“I’m sorry,” Sebastian repeats. “I didn’t mean to keep staring, it’s just… you’re really cute when you blush. But I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t-”
Sebastian doesn’t get to finish that sentence because Alec takes a step closer to him, leaving very little space between them and causing Sebastian’s apology to end abruptly. Alec gives him just enough time to step away or say something before he surges forward, driven by pent-up teenage hormones and the fact that Sebastian just admitted to thinking he was cute. Admitted to staring, the way Alec had been staring - to being afraid of the same thing Alec had: that he’d notice and be upset, or disgusted.
Alec impulsively presses his lips against Sebastian’s and ignores the jolt of fear just long enough for Sebastian to kiss back. It doesn’t last long - it can’t, not out here in the open with anyone able to walk by and see them at any moment - but it’s enough.
“I thought you were cute when you blushed, too,” Alec admits after they pull away a moment later, both smiling, both with cheeks tinged with the flush they both seem to like so much on one another.
It’s the first of several stolen kisses between them at the Academy - always when they’re the last putting away weapons after practice, or the first to arrive intentionally early for breakfast, or after sneaking off to the quiet, abandoned corners of the sprawling building most only end up it when they get lost.
The year goes by much too fast for Alec’s liking.
When he and Sebastian part ways it’s with a quick hug, a subtle blush, the promise to keep in touch, and the reassurance that he might not be as alone in their world as he once thought.