A Bar On The Mainland | Saturday Evening

[nottrivial]

Alec had no idea that there was any kind of weirdness going on this weekend. He'd gone about his business like usual -- some training in the morning followed by some heavy hiding-in-his-room throughout the afternoon -- and then he'd set off on, well, it was kind of an adventure, actually.

Or if you asked Jace, it was a date. Which meant that if you asked Alec, it was a date, because he was pretty sure Jace knew about these things.

The fact that it was taking place at a gay bar might have been a clue that it wasn't quite that simple, but for all Alec knew, that was just how dates worked. Loud music, glitter, dancing... by the Angel, that was a lot of glitter. He was going to be picking it off his sweater for weeks.

Sigh.

Alec cleared his throat and turned to his companion. "So," he said, doing his best to be audible over the music, "is this the part where we get drinks?"

[[for one, up early for SP, and NFB for distance, yo!]]

Comments

[nottrivial]

Alec wanted to duck his head, but logically he was aware that given the volume in here, it was pretty much necessary for them to see each other's faces to know what they were saying to each other. "Yeah, before," he said. "So. I don't know if that makes, um, any difference, but... that's a factor, I guess. In whatever Jace might have been picking up on."

[myownface]

Sparkle was now looking at Alec as though he was either trying to stare him down, or to bore a hole through him so that he could just look into his brain.

Barring either of those, he just reached for what was left of his drink.

"So, you wanted this to be a date?"

[nottrivial]

Hey, how did a blush look under green lighting? Because that was suddenly a relevant concern.

"Not really," Alec admitted, then blushed a little harder as he realized what that sounded like. "I mean, I don't know how to date. I figured I'd do it wrong."

[myownface]

"Oh. Good. Because this is so not a date," Sparkle replied, crossing his arms over his chest and looking around. "Ugh. I mean, seriously."

He took a moment to look kind of disgusted, before he continued.

"No way, Alec. Our first date is going to be something way less lower-middle than this hole. I mean, you should not come home from a first date all covered in glitter and crap, that's just tacky. No way. We'll do our first date right."

See how Sparkle had just decided that you two were dating now, Alec?

Get used to that.

[nottrivial]

And now Sparkle got to watch the expressions on Alec's face go from confusion to... well, to a different kind of confusion.

"Oh," he said, once it settled in that Sparkle was being serious. Then, a smile. "Okay. Yeah. That sounds really nice."

He wasn't sure if this was entirely the appropriate response, but nonetheless, he added, "Thank you?"

[myownface]

"Yeah, sure," Sparkle replied, smirking a little. Alec, how were you so adorable? "So, we'll finish up tonight, you know, just two guys hanging out in a gay bar. And while we do that, we can figure out what we do want to do for our first date, how does that sound?"

What would Jace think once he learned that his misconception about Sparkle and Alec's outing had led to them actually dating?

[nottrivial]

He'd probably just smirk pretty hard.

"Deal," Alec decided, still with that private little smile. "So... what do you think of this song?"

[myownface]

"This one, that's playing now?" Sparkle took a moment to listen, and then shrugged. "Never heard it before. Want to see if it's any good to dance to?"

[nottrivial]

Ordinarily the idea of Alec dancing was laughable, but you know what, he felt like expanding his horizons tonight. "Sure," he decided, pausing only to down the rest of his beer before sliding off his bar stool.

As he finally took in the actual dance floor rather than just the back wall of the bar, he proclaimed, "I think there's more glitter here than at a Fandom dance."

[myownface]

"I know," Sparkle laughed, leading him out toward the dance floor. "Isn't it great?"

Sparkle had a slight glitter bias.

[nottrivial]

"You're the one who just said it was tacky," Alec pointed out, but he was grinning. "But I like it too. It's... I mean, I'd never fight covered in this, it's too distinctive. It's nice for a... this kind of setting."

Experimentally, he ran a hand through his hair, and sure enough, came up with glitter all over his hand.

[myownface]

"Hey, being tacky doesn't mean it's not awesome. It's just not date material!" Sparkle gave his head a shake, and there was a puff of glitter to go with it. "We're going to twinkle for months."

It was going to rock.

[nottrivial]

"If this gets all over my bow when I train tomorrow, the demons will never stop laughing at me," Alec grinned. "That'll be your fault."

[myownface]

"Hey, if they're laughing, they'll be way easier to hit," Sparkle pointed out, grinning right back. "So you're welcome."

[nottrivial]

"Thank you," Alec laughed, deliberately dramatically. "Bargaining my own shame for some demon casualties."

[myownface]

"But yay, casualties?" That was a yay thing, right? Probably? "Bet you never thought someone like me would be helping you do your job, huh?"

[nottrivial]

"Not at all," Alec admitted. Then a little more thoughtfully, "At least, as long as we're talking about you being... not a Shadowhunter. In other areas, maybe."

[myownface]

"Hey, I've said it before and I'll say it again," Sparkle intoned, smirking, "I have no plans to throw my neck out somewhere I can lose it. My experience with demons is a whole lotta zero, and I totally intend to keep it that way."

Because Sparkle was smart!

[nottrivial]

"It's a good plan," Alec said seriously. "I... yeah. I support that."

[myownface]

"Well, good, then." Sparkle was beaming at that. But that wasn't going to stop him from following up with, "You're still going to teach me how to shoot an arrow though, right?"

[nottrivial]

"Oh, definitely," Alec replied with a smile. "You made too much progress the last time for us to not. And it's not like they're just a Shadowhunter thing."

[myownface]

"There's still not much use for them in Toronto," Sparkle mused, "but they might come in handy on Fandom Island yet. We'll see."

Really, he just liked the excuse to hang out with Alec more often. So, more training!

Sweet!