Room 401, Wednesday Morning

[nottrivial]

Alec had spent the last few days pretty consistently upset, and today wasn't much better. Even training in the gym late last night for twice his usual time hadn't helped at all, which was probably because those sessions were good for working off anger and frustration, and Alec wasn't really angry or frustrated, just... sad.

He showered and got dressed and thought long and hard about skipping class today, and then he flung himself back into bed, thinking darkly about how utterly unimpressed his parabatai would be if he saw this pathetic display of heartsickness.

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[seveninchmotto]

His sister wasn't necessarily going to be terribly impressed, either. But she hadn't seen him since the candy rain, and it seemed about time to come knocking at his door.

"Alec?"

[nottrivial]

Alec thought about not answering, because yeah, she was definitely not going to be impressed, but he knew that he'd been sulking like this for days now and talking to his sister was pretty much inevitable.

"It's unlocked," he called, skipping the pleasantries.

He could move over to his desk and try to look less pathetic, but that seemed like a lot of unnecessary effort when she was just going to see past that anyway. He did sit up in bed and lean against the headboard, though.

[seveninchmotto]

So much effort made. Isabelle slipped in through the door, closing it behind herself. Not even because she was expecting to need any particular privacy, but because she was used to the Institute and having less people around. And definitely less wandering mundies.

"Hello, big brother," she said, before actually taking a look at him. "Is something wrong?"

[nottrivial]

"Good to see you too," Alec groused. It was pointless to deflect, Alec. Which he apparently realized, as the next thing out of his mouth was "Sparkle and I might be broken up."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle raised an eyebrow. "That was fast."

You know, after all the recent drama that had seemed to revolve around them staying together into the forseeable future.

[nottrivial]

"Not really." It was a break-up in only 34 pings, Alec! That counted as fast! "We dated for almost a year."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant," she said, as she strode over to take a seat on the edge of his bed. "Weren't you admonishing me to back off just last week? Did I imgaine that? Because if I did</>, I will very seriously need to rethink my priorities on what I bother imagining."

[nottrivial]

Alec scooted back against the headboard to give her some room, bending his knees and pulling up his long legs against his chest. The effect was that he looked even more pathetic, yes.

"Yes," he said tightly. No need to worry about your imagination running wild, Izzy! "I think that I... told him about it wrong."

[seveninchmotto]

"Alec, there is no way you could ever tell him about it so wrong that it'd merit a breakup."

Okay, she supposed there were ways. But it wasn't like she was going totake Sparkle's side about anything now. Come on.

[nottrivial]

That was the best part of having this conversation with her, in a way. "I don't know," Alec mumbled. "He told me to get out and stay out of his face."

Sounded like a breakup to him. Not that he had much any knowledge of how such things were supposed to go.

[seveninchmotto]

"That does sound like a breakup," Isabelle admitted.

By which she meant she'd maybe said approximately the same thing to a guy or two over the last couple of years. Although she had more of a habit of dismissing boys as boring when she got tired of them.

[nottrivial]

Isabelle was classy that way.

Alec exhaled slowly. "I just asked him to not insult you," he said. "I didn't think he'd start yelling about how unfair that was."

Some people might make an effort to avoid making their sister feel like she was a factor in their breakup in order to spare her feelings, but Alec really didn't think that was an issue here.

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle's feelings were hard to hurt like that. If she looked like a factor in a breakup, then she had to doubt the strength of the relationship to begin with.

"I would've." That probably wasn't very helpful. "Look, if he broke up with you over that, then he's an idiot."

[nottrivial]

"He's not an idiot," Alec protested, more to his own knees than to Isabelle. "I just... think you were right when you said it's hard to tell what goes on in his head."

Because he was completely stumped on this one.

[seveninchmotto]

"Well, obviously." Isabelle didn't think mundanes could fully understand Shadowhunters, and she happened to think the opposite to be equally true. She carded her hand back through her hair, watching him. "He's not like us. How could his logic work like ours?"

[ultron_junior]

Victor had been getting ready to go to work when Alec got back to the room, but the un-Alec-like bedflopping startled him into saying something. Even if he and Alec didn't exactly have heartfelt talks all the time, he wasn't oblivious enough to miss an ongoing bad mood.

"Are you okay?" he asked tentatively. "Do you want aspirin or anything?"

[nottrivial]

Oh. Alec hadn't expected that.

He had been staring at the ceiling - totally productively - but now he looked down so he could actually look at Victor. "No, I'm not sick," he said, and to his credit, it came out calm and convincing, if a little stiff. "But thank you."

"Do you have work?"

[ultron_junior]

Victor could tell he'd surprised Alec, and it was enough that he sounded vaguely flustered as he pushed onward.

"Well, yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "But it's not like the small appliances are going to stage a coup if I'm a couple minutes late. Just didn't want to run off if you needed anything."

[nottrivial]

If he was entirely honest, Alec had thought - with nothing against Victor personally - that laying in bed like a lump was a common enough activity among mundanes that he wouldn't be questioned about it. Which wasn't a very charitable thought, but there it was. He supposed he should be impressed to have been proven wrong.

"Thanks," he said again. "I'm just, uh, keeping it easy today." The phrase was 'taking it easy,' Alec, god.

[ultron_junior]

Laying around was common among mundanes, sure. Not common at all for Alec, which was really what Victor was dealing with.

"Right," Victor said slowly, considering his next move. He didn't want to get all up in Alec's face, but it was hard to miss it when your roommate was moping around for days. "Just text me if you want me to pick anything up, okay? It kinda seems like you're having a rough week."

[nottrivial]

"Oh." Alec really hadn't realized he was being so obvious about it, but yeah. He really was.

He hesitated for a moment, seriously considering the offer, then ventured, "Maybe some junk food? I'll pay you back, I just don't normally get that stuff and I wouldn't know..." He trailed off, realizing that that request sounded pretty ridiculous.

[ultron_junior]

"There's not a whole lot to know," Victor said, giving Alec a confused look. "But yeah, I can get some Doritos and whatever. Pop-tarts."

He picked up his backpack and headed toward the door.

[nottrivial]

Alec had never been a Doritos and Pop-tarts guy. Never paid much attention to the stuff, really.

"Thanks." That was like your third 'thanks' of this brief conversation, Alec. "We can, you know. Share."

[ultron_junior]

"Thanks," Victor said, a bit dryly. "But it's really not a problem."

[nottrivial]

"Oh. Okay." Well. "I appreciate it, anyway. You're right, it's not a great week."

He said it matter-of-factly enough that he didn't think Victor would feel the need to ask questions, but Alec wasn't always great at knowing how he sounded, so who knew, really?