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1. SIX MONTHS
It starts because Alec is an idiot who picks up the wrong phone with the wrong person at the other end.
"Jace?" Simon asks and Alec looks down at the table where his phone is still laying. He barely contains a groan.
"Not Jace."
"Ah fuck. Wait, Alec?" He debates hanging up for about 0.2 seconds.
"Yes."
"Oh. Oh! Well, never thought I'd say this but I am so glad I caught y-"
"What did you do?"
"Okay, first of all, technically we didn't do anything, alright?" Alec smoothes the crease between his eyebrows down with two fingers.
"And second?"
"Uh, yeah, second, we're kinda stuck."
"I'm assuming 'we' is Clary and you?"
"No," Simon says, but he sounds hesitant so Alec doesn't even bother being surprised before:
"Raphael is also here."
"You're two vampires and one Shadowhunter, where could you possibly be stuck?"
"Before you judge, I feel like that I have to remind you that teenage girls are fucking terrifying." He sounds so earnest and scared that Alec almost snorts.
"Then again you won't know anything about that." Almost.
"If you want me to get you out of whatever situation you're in you're going to have to hurry up with that explanation."
"Right, right, sorry. We're in our old high school. Clary's and mine. We went in and Raphael followed us because he noticed like three demons coming after us, but really it was the marching band or like demons impersonating the marching band, whatever, you kn-"
"Simon!" Simon drags in a heavy breath.
"Thanks. So, we thought that it was kinda weird that they were here after nightfall, and then they followed us into the school and then Raphael was there and pushed us into one of the rooms but of course they broke down the door, so we had to escape to the IT rooms and then they managed to seperate us, so I started running and now I'm in the chemistry rooms, but I have no idea where Clary or Raphael are and there are still like ten shapeshifters running around."
Alec already has the phone pressed between his shoulder and his ear to be able to apply a Soundless rune on his arm. He doesn't even bother asking why Clary and Simon decided to break into their old high school in the middle of the night.
"Then just get out of the building, you can jump out of a window." Simon actually laughs.
"Are you serious? Have you ever met Clary Fray? And I'm pretty sure one of the demons offended Raphael's fashion sense, so he's not going anywhere."
The door slams behind him.
"I'm on my way." And then, because it's Simon, and he might actually listen to reason, Alec adds:
"Don't do anything stupid."
"Oh trust me," Simon says, his voice shaking when there's a thump behind him, "I wo-" Alec hangs up.
*
When they come out of the building an hour later, Raphael dusting off his jacket and Alec drawing an Iratze on his hip in the midst of walking, Clary and Simon come to a halt.
"Never liked this place," Simon says. Something in his tone makes Alec stop and look up.
The school doesn't look particularly dirty or dangerous, rather harmless, actually. But Clary looks at Simon in sympathy, her hair falling over her shoulder when she tilts her head.
"You could write Kirk Duplesse a letter to tell him that you're a vampire now and you're on your way to suck his blood." Simon laughs, but it's weak, and then he looks at Alec.
"You never went to high school, did you?" he says, like they do this, like they have conversations about their personal lives.
"Everything we needed to know we learned in the Institute." It sounds stiff and rehearsed compared to Simon and Clary's voices when they talk about their time growing up.
Simon extracts himself from Clary and Alec watches him warily when he comes to walk beside him, Clary and Raphael bickering behind them.
"Well, let me tell you, even though you guys have like deadly weapons everywhere, I probably would have gone there if I had had the choice."
Alec is positive that he will never understand this boy.
2. SEVEN MONTHS
"How did you get my number?"
"Wh- I got it from Isabelle. For survival reasons." Right. Alec shoots a resignated glare towards the ceiling.
"The more intriguing question is: How did you know it was me?"
"Got your number from Isabelle. Survival reasons." Simon laughs and it rings disturbingly cheerful in Alec's ears. Although there is an edge to it that is never there when Alec hears him talking to Clary.
"So, why are you dying?" He laughs again but it sounds confused this time like he's already forgotten what they were talking about.
"What?" Honestly, mundanes and attention spans. (He should probably stop thinking of Simon as a mundane nowadays, though.)
"Survival reasons," Alec reminds him and already has his stele out.
"Yes, right. Actually, that's not what it is." If he hangs up now he might be able to blame it on his battery dying.
"It's about vampires." Alec closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
"Why are you calling me for that? You have Raphael. And Clary." Who arguably isn't of much use in the Downworld department.
"And Isabelle, Jace-"
"Yeah, I know, I kn- wait, Jace, really? The guy hates me. He's the one I'd really only call for survival reasons."
It's only for years of practice that Alec can keep in the several retorts that spring to mind at that. Even if Jace actually hated Simon, which, for some curious reason, he doesn't really, he'd still be a better fit for this conversation than Alec.
Alec shoves all of that to the back of his mind, though, along with the little flicker of satisfaction that comes with being chosen over Jace. Over everyone, really. It's the self indulgent part of Alec, the part he can't ever allow to get to the surface.
"Why did you call me?" he asks again.
"Because I know that you're going to give me a straight answer." Simon doesn't elaborate any further, which, for him, is a new occurence.
"Are vampires sterile?" Alec's brain blanks.
"That's the question?" he asks, just to be sure. He cranes his neck, in the hope that physical motions will stop the thoughts in his head from racing.
"Yeah. Well, yeah. Okay, I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but if I ask Raphael he's gonna laugh at me, I mean he'd roll his eyes first and probably answer me, but also he'd laugh, and I really don't want to talk to Clary about this in case the answer is yes and with Isabelle it's the same two reasons and there really aren't any books here in the Hotel on that, for some reason I haven't figured out yet, so-"
"Yes."
"What?" Simon's voice sounds faint, but hopeful. Alec has never been consulted on Downworlders by a fresh Downworlder before. It does not feel good.
"Yes, vampires are sterile. It's in the Shadowhunters Codex, didn't you read that?"
"No." Alec scratches at the back of his neck and carefully doesn't think about the fact how unqualified he is for this.
"Wait. Are you telling me there is a guide for the Shadow World and you guys haven't given it to us, yet?"
"I think Clary read it," Alec says, his brow furrowed.
"Oh great!" The short burst of laughter sounds ugly over the line.
"That means this whole conversation wouldn't have had to happen if there were any books here that are younger than a hundred years and less kosher then my great aunt."
"What?" Sometimes Alec wonders if one can get whiplash from talking to someone.
"Forget it. You have the Shadowhunters Codex at the Institute, I assume?"
"Of course we do."
"Great. I'm coming over tonight as soon as it gets dark. You're going to have to let me in. Bye."
He doesn't even wait for Alec to say anything else, just hangs up, and Alec is left with a tightly pulled together expression and the urge to punch something.
3. SEVEN MONTHS AND A HALF
"You know I never actually came out to my mother." Alec has to take the phone away from his ear to check the caller ID again, to be sure that he's not hearing things.
"What?"
"Clary told me that she thinks you need more of an outsider to talk to." There is a pause of three seconds in which Alec doesn't manage to gather enough words together to give an intelligent answer.
"In hindsight, maybe that wasn't the best conversation opener." Simon sounds unsure and Alec thinks he better be, because this, this is just uncalled for. His brain seems to be stuck, though, so he can't think of anything to say, but:
"You and Clary talk about me?"
"What? Oh yeah. We- we do. We talk about people. You and Jace never talk about your other friends?" Alec thinks of the vein pulsing in Jace's forehead when Alec first accused him of putting Clary before everyone else in his life. Of course, Izzy was the one who got the last laugh in that argument in the end, but still, it sure wasn't an encouraging moment.
"I didn't know we were considered friends," Alec says instead of what he's thinking which is, no, but he figures this is just as important of a point to bring up.
"We aren't." Simon sounds less offended than Alec had feared, but his voice is sharp, like he's vigilant.
"But Clary does consider you her friend and it doesn't take a very close relationship with you to figure out that you look miserable like ninety percent of the time."
Alec has to sit down. He lowers himself onto his bed and looks at the hand that isn't holding his phone to his ear.
"I do not." What business do Clary and Simon, two fundamentally mundane people who don't know him, have with telling him that, anyway?
"Dude, like I said, we're not friends, you don't have to tell me anything. And it's not like you owe anyone any explanation about who you are."
Alec breathes out slowly. He doesn't think Simon realizes what he's saying, that he's making the ache in Alec's stomach tighten. He wonders sometimes, what some mundanes get told when they're kids that they can say things like that and actually believe them.
"I'm just here to tell you that I'm probably the most understanding outsider you're going to get. And that I haven't ever actually come out to my mom, I just told her about that little crush on that one guy that I had a while back, but I've never actually said the words to her. Like out loud."
"What are you talking about?" Alec tries to sound as clueless as possible and it's true that he is a little lost in Simon's stumbling voice and his way of talking around things, but he also thinks that he's going to regret it if he says anything else.
"I'm talking about the fact that I'm pan. Pansexual. And also about the fact that I have been in love with my best friend in the whole world and it sucked. Of course I have no idea what it's like to grow up in the Shadow World, which means I'm pretty privileged in that way, but I understand repression. I mean, since I met you Shadowhunters I don't think I'm the king of repressed feelings anymore, but I am still pretty damn good at it."
"Okay," Alec says, very slowly, needing to process this amount of information.
"Yeah." Simon sounds like he's a little out of breath, which really shouldn't happen to a vampire.
"So, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. And just so you know: The fact that we're not friends isn't due to me." Then he hangs up.
Isabelle finds Alec five minutes later, still staring at his phone in wonderment.
4. EIGHT MONTHS
Alec picks up and doesn't say anything. He already knows that Simon is going to start talking no matter what he says.
"So," Simon says, predictably, and draws out the o for stalling purposes, "that was kind of weird."
"Was it?" It was. It most definitely, absolutely was, but Alec can't talk about it, can't admit weakness first. That has never been his strategy.
Simon's little laugh is disbelieving.
"Well... yeah. Right? I'm a little freaked out." There is rustling and the muffled sound of a body landing on something soft. Alec catches himself wondering if it's Simon's bed or his couch or something else and then continues quietly berating himself and shutting that thought process down immediately.
"That's a lie," Simon admits further, completely unaware of the fact that Alec is pacing inf ront of the Institute like a caged tiger. "I'm completely freaked out. What were we thinking?"
No, Alec thinks. What were you thinking? You don't get to do that to people, to a Shadowhunter.
"It was a spur of the moment response," he says instead, keeping his voice as neutral as possible, which takes more effort than it should. Simon is surprisingly good at detecting pretenses and guarding walls at times.
"Ah right." Obviously (fortunately, Alec reminds himself) not when he's somewhat overwhelmed himself, though.
"Right no, I understand." He laughs again. Alec knows a thing or two about go-to defense mechanisms, so he doesn't say anything about it.
"Look. I offered, you bit me, it's fine." It's the opposite of fine. But Simon sounds genuinely distressed and Alec really just wants to be left alone.
"If you say so." Simon sounds doubtful but he takes it and really that's all that counts.
"I really can't talk right now. There is some demon activity that needs looking into," Alec lies and hangs up before he gets an answer.
He shoves his phone into the back pocket in his pants and sits down on the stairs leading up to the Institute, burying his head in his hands.
"Goddamn," he says with emphasis and lets one of his hands slide down to the base of his neck.
It didn't hurt, is the thing.
Actually, he can't remember the moment Simon sunk his teeth into Alec's skin at all. What he does remember is a blooming sort of pleasure in his stomach that had his knees buckle. What he does remember is Simon having to stand on his toes to even reach Alec's neck and in the end just kneeling on the wall seperating the park from the street. What he does remember is the white flash of teeth, fangs in the darkness before and the red smear of blood in the corner of Simon's mouth after.
What he does remember is not knowing whether the longing for Simon to tug him closer came from the bite or from somewhere deep in himself.
What he does remember is thinking that he's completely and utterly screwed and that he just wants to give in, finally.
5. NINE MONTHS
"Alec?" It's just when he hears the sleepy note in Simon's voice that he remembers Simon being a creature of the night. Although, to be fair Alec has never met a vampire that actually bothers to sleep. Then again he hasn't really cared for holding conversations with vampires before, so maybe sleeping is a habit for some.
"Yeah, sorry, did I wake you?"
"Kinda," Simon says and Alec doesn't want to imagine Simon dazed and half-awake. (That can't stop his brain apparently, though.)
"Sorry."
"It's okay, it's not like I actually need sleep. Or food. Or whatever." He sounds frustrated. Alec ruffles his hair.
"Uh," he says and prays that he's not going to stumble over the next words, "I watched the show."
"Huh?" Alec turns and looks around for someone listening, then he leans against the wall of the corridor.
"I watched the show. The one with the friends you talked about the other day."
"You mean... Friends?"
"I think so?" And really, he's a Shadowhunter, he shouldn't feel so vastly incompetent when talking to another person.
Simon's laugh echoes through the line and leaves the phantom impression of something stuck in Alec's throat.
"I cannot believe I got a Lightwood to listen to me on pop culture. How many episodes did you watch?"
"There are a lot," Alec admits and Simon is still laughing. Alec finds that he doesn't mind so much.
"I got through two of them, before there was a demon alert to deal with."
"You should know, that I am proud. This is a very important step on your way to become a semi well-adjusted human being." He snickers now.
"Clary's going to be so annoyed. Isabelle and her still haven't convinced Jace of the values of Elementary. Personally, I think we'd need to start him of with some good old superhero movies, but they're hellbent on it."
Alec knows. The times Isabelle and Jace have argued over it are, quite frankly, ridiculous. He's seen Clary and Simon debating fictional scenarios, throwing around references with big gestures and it's always seemed extremely unnecessary to him, because it's not like it matters but Jace and Isabelle's fights about hypotheticals about indulging themselves in fiction are possibly even more absurd.
Friends had been fun, though. It had made him think of Simon and even laugh out loud at times, managing to distract him from the thoughts and emotions caused by his own life, that he always squashes down as soon as they arise.
"So, you liked it, right? It's Friends, everyone likes it. Except for my mom, but she doesn't count, her favorite 70s Show character is Eric, it's really sad."
"I liked it." Alec assumes that most people that communicate with Simon largely ignore any of his references they don't get.
"Well, good, that means you're not a total lost cause. You wanna watch some more? You could say you're on official Downworld watch duty. That's a thing right?" Alec kind of wishes he had a fresh enhanced hearing rune right now, because like this he just wonders if Simon is nervous when asking that question. If he's bouncing his knee, if his hands are fidgeting, like they always do, driving Alec crazy when he pays too much attention to them.
"Sure," he says.
"It's a date." Simon says it enthusiastically and then immediately falls silent, like he's afraid. And apprehensive, the silence is definitely apprehensive.
"Yeah," Alec says, "alright."
+1. ELEVEN MONTHS
"I can't do this," Simon greets him as soon as Alec accepts the call.
"Can't do what?"
"I- I can't go tomorrow. Your parents are literally the epitome of Shadowhunter ideology, I can't do it, there is so much judgement flying around every time I'm just in their proximity, so being alone with them? Not such a good idea, especia-"
"Simon!" The right corner of his mouth curves upwards when he hears a ragged breath being sucked in.
"Right, yes, sorry. I can do this. Probably." Another breath.
"Most likely not. Alec, they're going to frost me with their stares and put me in their freezer." Alec sighs, defeated.
"I promise you that if they do, I'm going to find you."
"That," Simon says, seeming to calm down, Alec can hear something rustling in the background, "is so sweet. I knew you love me."
Alec rolls his eyes, because he can't think of anything else to do.
"I heard that." There is some more rustling in the background and Alec laughs, short and uncontrolled, one of those laughs that he can't ever seem to be able to stop and at which Simon's eyes always light up, like he's still surprised that he has that effect on Alec. Looking over his shoulder Alec sees Jace and Isabelle standing at the bottom of the stairs to the training area. Clary is already at the door, her seraph blade out and listening intently to Lydia who seems to be giving last instructions.
"Listen, I have to go. There are three Dahaks in the Met."
"Of course there are."
"I'll call you after."
"Yes you will, I am not going without cue cards tomorrow."
"For the last time, we don't have scripts for conversations with our parents."
"That's exactly what someone who has scripts for conversations with their parents would say."
"I'm hanging up," Alec says firmly.
"I love you. And you love me too, so you have to save me tomorrow, it's your duty."
"Alec!" Jace is looking at him expectantly. Isabelle looks more amused, like she always does when she observes Alec and Simon interact, like she's genuinely happy with what she's seeing.
"Coming," Alec says, and then quieter, "Don't do anything stupid."
"Be safe," Simon replies, the words just that short of not sounding like he's worried. He's always worried.
"I will." When he hangs up and slides his phone into his pocket to follow Jace and Isabelle, Alec thinks about Simon waiting for him to call to assure him that he's safe, to hear his voice.
He smiles.