Okay guys, my first Jalec (or indeed any sort of ship-based) fic, constructive criticism is always welcome. Reviews are greatly appreciated, so enjoy and let me know what you think!

x Pencil Damage

That Forgotten Spark

The flashing lights where, in all honesty, getting on Jace's nerves. He sighed as he sipped his rum and coke, leaning casually against the bar. He was ridiculously underage, but a few witticisms and a charming bat of his eyelashes, and the barmaid promptly ignored the fact she was supposed to ask for ID. He could see Alec across the room, leaning against the wall and trying very hard not to notice the admiring glances of a pair of girls gyrating nearby. Since he'd been with Magnus, there had been a noticeable difference in him. He stood straighter now, he didn't always seem like he as trying to make himself as small as possible. And of course he dressed better, largely thanks to Magnus.

Isabelle was somewhere on the dance floor with Simon, dancing in a way that Jace really did not wish to see his adoptive sister dance. Simon, since having become a vampire, had a gained a bit more co-ordination. Although his version of dancing still consisted of bouncing slightly to the music, at least he managed to do it in time to the beat now. He had even managed to incorporate a bit of swaying, Jace had noted.

There was a vibration in his pocket, and he pulled out his phone, flipping it open as he did so.

THIS IS LAME. CAN WE PLZ GO NOW?

Alec was just as bored as he was. Magnus was away on business. Clary was at home looking after her mother, who had food poisoning, whilst Luke was in Idris. Isabelle had dragged them both to Pandemonium with herself and Simon to prevent them moping in their solitude all night, but had promptly disappeared upon entry into the club. Jace typed a quick reply.

DOWNING MY DRINK. MEET YOU OUT FRONT IN 5.

They weren't particularly worried about Isabelle. She was more than capable of handling herself, and Simon was no longer a mundane – he could handle trouble.

And so a few minutes later, he and Alec were wandering the backstreets of New York. It was a cool night, a slight drizzle laying a misty haze over their surroundings. Jace wished he'd brought a jacket, or at least had the sense to wear longer sleeves like Alec. His black vest top did very little to protect him from the rain.

"You want to get a cab?" Alec looked at him sideways, noticing his shivering. Jace shook his head.

"I need to walk." Was all he said, but he knew Alec understood that he was restless.

They were going Demon hunting.

It was a good twenty minutes of wandering around backstreets that were well-known demon haunts before they came across anything interesting. They had been walking in a companiable silence, and Jace found himself reminiscing about the old times, when it had always been him and Alec. They were of course still Parabatai, but they used to spend much more time together, before Clary, Magnus, and everyone else had come along. In a way, he missed having Alec to himself.

Jace was snapped out of his thought but a strange crunching noise under his feet. He looked down to see they were in an alleyway littered with bones. Human bones, but blackened, as if they had been charred in a very hot fire.

"Belial demon," Alec whispered.

Jace looked at him, and Alec nodded, unspoken words passing between them. Their standard ambush technique, where Jace acted as bait and Alec hid nearby and attacked at the opportune moment, had worked a million times before.

Jace took a few steps into the alley and Alec slid into the shadows, his seraph blade in his hand. It often happened that he didn't need to step in at all, that Jace would dispatch the demon alone, but Alec wanted to be ready. Just in case.

As more bones splintered beneath Jace's boots, something stirred at the end of the alley. A humanoid figure appeared out of the shadows, moving slowly towards him. It was a skeleton, bones blackened worse than the remains of its victims on the floor, bits of charred flesh hanging from the ribcage, lodged between the bones. Its eyes were black nothingness, but its mouth glowed, bits of liquid fire dripping like drool from a dog. Jace's hand reached for his seraph blade in his pocket. A Belial demon on its own was usually relatively easy to kill. They were resilient, but they were slow.

Jace waited until the demon got closer, feeling Alec's eyes on his back. And then he lashed out with his foot, delivering a spinning kick that could have removed a normal humans head off of its shoulders. The demon staggered back. Without pausing, he whipped out his Seraph blade, whispering its name as he raised his arm, then brought it down with a slashing motion, slicing the demon in half, from its left shoulder to its right hipbone. The demon disintegrated into a puff of ash which faded as it was sucked back into its home dimension.

"Dead in just two hits," Jace commented as he turned to Alec, who smiled and stepped forward to give him a congratulatory pat on the back. His face was all contrasts – pale glows vs shadows – and in the dim light of the nearby street lamp, his eyes were a kind of midnight blue. For a second, Jace saw what he imagine Magnus must see; eyes dark and intense, skin that looked soft and flawless, and lips that were full, like his sisters but somehow different, and Jace found himself for a second wondering if they were as soft as they looked.

Alec's gaze shifted past Jace, his gaze widening at something. His mouth moved as he whispered an angel's name, his seraph blade blazing to life just as something slammed into Jace's back, sending him stumbling into Alec, knocking them both to the floor. Jace felt something heavy land on him, but a second later it was gone, accompanied by the strange whooshing noise that demons made when they were killed. Jace glanced down towards Alec's hand. His seraph blade was held upright, and whatever had tried to ambush them had evidently landed directly on it. I smiled and looked back up to Alec's face, before it occurred to him, that he was lying face down on Alec, and those lips he had been contemplating only moments ago were now inches from his own. Using his arms, he raised himself slightly off of Alec, holding himself in a sort of press-up position above him.

"One hit. You beat me," he observed, looking down into Alec's face and wondering why he didn't just get up. Why he felt he had to stay here, hovering above Alec.

The other blue eyes gazed up at him intently. This was odd. Alec would never have met Jace's eyes in a situation like this one month ago. But now he held Jace's gaze, saying nothing. He made no move to push Jace off of him. He was waiting. It was all up to Jace.

"Come on, no whoops of delight? No throwing your hands up in the air in celebration? Beating me doesn't happen often." Jace teased. Alec cracked a smile.

"I love how near-death experiences don't humble you at all Jace,"

Jace grinned.

"So… Are you going to get off of me or are we going to lie in this alleyway until tomorrow morning?" Alec wanted to know, and Jace winked.

"I thought this was your fantasy come true," he replied, only half joking. His smile slowly disappeared as his gaze lowered from Alec's eyes to his lips. His soft, full lips, with their perfectly shaped cupids bow. His own lips parted, and unconsciously, without really noticing what he was doing, he lowered himself slightly, slowly, until they were less than an inch apart. He waited for Alec to push him off. Alec did no such thing. Instead, he kept his gaze on Jace steady, so that when Jace moved his eyes back up, they were again met by the intense gaze of those dark blue eyes. And without warning, those beautiful eyes closed, and suddenly, that forgotten spark inside him returned, and Alec had lifted his head, pressing his lips to Jace's.

It was as if he had sucked the strength from Jace, whose arms crumpled and he fell onto Alec, returning the kiss with fervour. Alec's hands were now on the back of Jace's head, his fingers running through the soft gold of his hair as their lips moved against each other. He wrapped his legs around Jace, pulling him against himself as his tongue gently pushed its way into Jace's mouth. The other boy inhaled sharply, but did nothing to stop him.

Alec wasn't used to this. He wasn't used to being in charge, of being the one to move things forward. Yet although he responded to every move Alec made, Jace did not try to take charge of the situation. He let Alec's hands wander down his back, under his t-shirt, his tongue brushing Jace's lips as he did so. Alec kissed him with a fierce sort of desperation, pulling Jace closer to him as everything he'd felt for the last few years was poured out in a kiss. And Jace let him. Alec knew what he wanted. Jace had no idea why he was letting this happen, only that he was enjoying it, more than he ever would have thought possible. It was so different to kissing Clary that-

"Clary!" Jace gasped, rolling off of Alec and leaping to his feet, staring at Alec with a dazed looking expression on his face.

"Magnus…" Alec whispered, and a spear of guilt shot through him. The same guilt he knew Jace was feeling too.

"Maybe we should go."

Jace's breathing had slowed. He had composed himself, but he wouldn't meet Alec's eye as he stood up.

Oh how the tables have turned, Alec thought, watching Jace turn away and walk quickly out of the alleyway, as if he could leave the memory of what had just happened behind him.