Sweet Creature ▹ Alec Lightwood [2] ( SLOW UPDATES )

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN
PARABATAI

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     "Is it inappropriate to ask you to be one of the witnesses for mine and Izzy's parabatai ceremony?" Adrian asked. It was early in the morning, so early that the sun had yet to even start rising outside, and Adrian had woken up to the sound of his bedroom door creaking open. Alec had showered, and then had fallen into Adrian's bed beside him, mumbling about how stupid patrols were. He had sketched a rune on himself to keep himself awake while on said patrol, so Alec was starting to doze off now, curling up against Adrian under the covers. Adrian had been awake for hours, anxiety and excitement flowing through him at the thought of finally becoming parabatai with Isabelle in merely a few hours. But now, as he tangled his legs with Alec's and leaned into the warmth of him, he found himself finally asking the question. Isabelle had asked him who he was going to choose as his witness, as she had already asked Jace to be hers, and Adrian had only just worked up the nerve.

He didn't know why asking Alec to serve as one of the two witnesses for the ceremony was such a big deal. It felt almost like a step forward in their relationship, though he couldn't name why. Maybe because the parabatai ceremony was seen as something reverential. Adrian had heard and read stories of parabatai who loved each other so much they put the parabatai over their hearts, in the place a marriage rune was usually placed. He had always side-eyed those specific stories before—why not marry them instead, if they loved them that much? After all, Adrian had no desire to put his parabatai rune over Isabelle's heart, and he didn't want his own placed over his. But then that thought process made him doubt his bond with Isabelle, even if they had passed all their tests.

"Why would it be inappropriate?" Alec murmured, sounding like he was half asleep. Adrian untangled his legs and pulled away, rolling on his stomach and propping himself up on his elbows. Him rolling away caused the blanket to pull slightly off of Alec, but Alec hardly noticed, one of his arms thrown over his head on the pillow. The other was splayed over his stomach, his hand still slightly curled from where it had been playing with Adrian's hair. He liked doing that, Adrian had noticed. When they had started sneaking into each other's beds to sleep together—it was the only time they could spend time together, nowadays—Alec's fingers always seemed to tangle into Adrian's hair.

"I don't know," Adrian said. His soft laugh was nervous even to his own ears, and it made Alec pry his eyes open. He turned his head to look at Adrian, blinking his exhaustion away, black hair falling into his blue eyes. Adrian buried his urge to brush his hair out of his eyes and folded his arms instead, burying his face into them. His next words were muffled. "You're her brother and my boyfriend. I don't exactly know how this works and I'm nervous. I'm overthinking. I don't usually overthink." A groan left his mouth. "What's wrong with me? This is a Shadowhunter ritual as old as Shadowhunters themselves. I'm good with Shadowhunter rituals. I'm a good Shadowhunter. I'm great, actually. This shouldn't be making me as anxious as it is."

"Oh, you're great?" Alec said, shifting on his side. Adrian turned his head, pressing his cheek against his arms, and watched as Alec pillowed his own head with his arm. There was a cut there, shallow, on his arm. Adrian reached forward to touch it gently as Alec continued. "Careful, Dri, you're starting to sound like Jace." Adrian scrunched his nose up, but kept his focus on the cut. It must've been just a scrape from falling, or being knocked into a wall, because he hadn't bothered putting an iratze on. "And it's okay to be nervous. I was, too, when I had my ceremony with Jace."