West of Words (Alec Lightwood)

🗝 Chapter Fourteen 🗝

The first sound in the morning was the banging on Varian's door.

It echoed loudly, waking Varian up in an instant. He sat up, shouting indignantly and accompanied by many cuss words.

"Time to go!" His baba  shouted through what Varian was saying, which led to his sigh and rolling out of bed.

There is something slightly different in the air, Varian clocked it as soon as he stepped out of bed and took a deep breath. On the exhale, a vibration of magic passed over the room and echoed into the flat, his baba  immediately reacted, opening the door in a worried way and looking his son up and down.

"I'm fine," Varian waved him off, making his way to his closet door and opening it to hunt for a shirt.

"Then what was that."

Varian shrugged, not even sure of it himself, his baba  left the room with a tinge of maroon around him. The feeling was still in the air, like a tangible web over the room, and as Varian changed and stepped into the rest of the flat he could feel it there as well.

But he didn't let it bother him, instead he pushed through, making himself a cup of tea and grabbing a piece of bread and toasting it with his hand as he left through the front door with his baba.

The door was, of course, not a door exactly, but a portal that took the pair of them to the front of the Institute.

Varian felt excited at the idea of seeing Alec again, though he wasn't exactly sure why. Emotions of other people were easy to read, but his were a mystery to him at every occasion.

The feeling grew as his baba  and him were admitted into the Institute, he stumbled slightly, holding a hand out to his baba  to catch himself.

"What is it?" His baba  asked again, and Varian shook the question off, standing to his full height (though it wasn't very tall) and took a sip of his tea in a way of making everything seem more normal.

"Magnus Bane," The man that approached Varian and his baba  was one that Varian had had brief contact with just a few days ago. Robert Lightwood was perfectly alright with Magnus Bane being there, but less so with Varian for one reason or another.

Varian noticed that as soon as he looked a the man, though he decided to ignore it and take on the look of a pleasant smile and a calm demeanor. He didn't give much attention to Robert as he spoke as Varian had started to regret coming as the blue-eyed Shadowhunter was nowhere in sight.

There was an argument taking place in the Institute, a heated one, Varian could see the red tendrils of anger making there way through. Anger was the one emotion that seemed to poison the air and people around anyone feeling the emotion, and without meaning to Varian started to drift that way.

His mug of tea was still in his hands, and as he started towards the stairs he realized how odd he must look compared to all of the others in the room. They dressed themselves in black leather and very rarely smiled, while Varian wandered around with blue hair and an oversize sweater.

It was a statement without meaning to be.

His baba  dressed eccentrically, as did most Warlocks, but Varian never liked the way the clothes seemed to look on him. On the other side of things, the other half of him, Shadowhunters dressed in black at all times, and mostly in armor, and blacks never looked very good on Varian.

He didn't mean to go as far as he did, but before Varian could comprehend what he was doing he had opened the door to a bedroom and interrupted the argument that was taking place.

"Varian?" It was Izzy who spoke first, the harsh red instantly left the room and was replaced with a soft yellow, like she didn't want to frighten Varian off.

Varian was quick to apologize, about walking into the room, he felt strange and in the wrong. "I didn't mean to, sorry, I just, was, drawn here."

"Drawn here?" Izzy asked, and Varian just nodded.

"Yeah I uh, emotions and such." I mutter, waving my hand to the room. "I'll just, I'll go."

"No wait!" Another voice spoke, and Varian recognized it quickly as the blue-eyed Shadowhunter he had been wanting to see. "What are you doing here?"

Varian felt himself get hot at his voice, before breathing out and replying quickly. "Magnus was called to help and I tagged along, but got bored of hearing Robert speak and was drawn to your argument. What were you arguing about?" He didn't mean to be so blunt in asking, but he did really want to know.

"Oh, uhm." Izzy looked over at Alec as if unsure what to say.

"Nothing important." Alec was quick to reply, and Varian noticed the lie but shrugged it away.

"Right, sorry for interrupting, carry on." Varian muttered, quickly turning to leave.

"Wait, uh, Varian." Alec called to him, following him out into the hallway. "I'm sorry for being so short with you last time."

"Short?" Varian asked, "I didn't think you were very short?"

"Oh, well." Alec looked awkward as if he wasn't sure what to say after that.

"But I forgive you either way." Varian smiled, stepping closer to Alec and pressing his hand to his bicep over where the Forsaken injury had been originally. "How is your shoulder?"

Alec seemed uncomfortable at the sudden contact, and stuttered as he spoke again. "It's, it's uh, it's alright." He finally forced the words out.

"Brilliant," Varian lowered his hand, but didn't step back. Varian looked up, locking eyes with Alec and smiling as he did. "Would you go for a drink with me sometime?"

Varian shocked himself in asking, and could tell that he shocked Alec just as much. Alec considered it for a long pause, long enough that Varian started to regret asking.

He stepped back, dropping his head and waving his hands in a 'forget about it' kind of way.

"No wait," Alec touched Varian's hand but didn't hold the contact for long. "Uh, yeah I'd like that."

Varian smiles brightly, snapping his fingers and bringing forward a playing card. "Call me?" Varian turned, starting to walk away but pausing when Alec spoke to him again.

"Do you have a number?"

"That's rather forward of you," Varian smirked as he replied, "But no, I don't. Just the playing cards, never got the hang of a phone."

It was the truth, but Varian couldn't help but snort at the reply that he had given Alec.

"I hope to see you soon."