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Clary Fray is the only person in the world who knows about Alec Lightwood’s undying love for caramel frappes.
“If you ever think about telling anyone Fray, I promise they will never find your body.”
It all started after a particularly rough mission. Jace had been reckless, like always, but this time he had nearly gotten himself killed. Alec barely had time to shoot the demon in between the eyes before it could sink its talons into his parabatai’s chest.
Back at the Institute, Alec was laying in to his brother for his actions. Clary glared at Jace as well, arms crossed over her chest. Even as he looked at her with pleading eyes, she refused to come to his defense. He really was an idiot. He either didn’t know how much his safety mattered to the people around him, or he just cared more about his dumb ego. Clary didn’t know which one was worse.
Despite knowing full well that he had been stupid, Jace was still putting up a fight with his parabatai, refusing to admit he was in the wrong. Alec was getting worked up, red in the face with veins popping out of his neck as he yelled. Finally, Clary had had enough. She rolled her eyes and grabbed Alec’s arm, pulling him away from Jace.
“What are you doing?”
“Where are you guys going?” Jace called after them.
Clary didn’t dignify Jace with a response. She was silent until she and Alec exited the Institute and were walking off the grounds. Once they stopped at a cross walk, she spoke up.
“You desperately need a break, Alec. Arguing with Jace isn’t going to get you anywhere,” Clary said, squinting up through the rays of sunlight that were cast across Alec’s face from where the sun was rising above the skyline.
Alec huffed. “I can barely deal with him most days. What a pain in the ass. He risks his life just to show off, and for what? His pride? One day it’s actually going to kill him.”
“Jace is a toddler. He will throw a huge tantrum if it means he gets to be the center of attention.”
“Or leap into a horde of demons,” Alec muttered, still sullen.
“You need caffeine. You’ve been awake more than 24 hours, you’re probably exhausted. Coffee will cheer you up.”
“I don’t drink coffee.”
Clary looked up at him in surprise. “Ever? Not even black coffee? You seem like the type who would drink that."
Alec made a disgusted face. “Gross. Have you tasted that stuff? It’s disgusting.”
“Not if you put a ton of sugar in it to balance out the bitterness,” Clary replied, but Alec still did not look impressed. “I’m taking you to this great little café Simon and I used to go to all the time. They have a lot more than just black coffee there, you know.”
Alec shook his head. “I don’t know. Never been to one.”
Clary gasped. “Not even to Starbucks?”
Alec looked at her like she had just spoken a different language, and Clary reeled at this new information. Clary knew that shadowhunters lived different lives than those of the mundane world, but this was a whole new level of deprivation she had not considered. Although, she guessed this problem might be unique to Alec. She was pretty sure she and Izzy had bonded over a mocha or two in the past at one point.
Clary set aside her shock to smile at him. “Well then, you are in for a treat.”
When they made it to the café, it had just opened for the morning, so the place was empty. ‘Perfect,’ Clary thought. ‘It was best to introduce Alec to this away from any mundane interference.’ She looked around the interior and spotted two cushy seats placed together in the far corner.
She pointed to the chairs. “Here, you go sit over there and I’ll be right back after I go order us something, my treat.”
Alec didn’t protest, still looking around the café a bit uneasily.
It was supposed to be a joke, ordering Alec a frappe. Clary saw the item on the menu and she couldn’t help herself. It amused her, the idea of giving Alec — the tall, stoic, soldier — a freaking frappe. Before she realized, she was ordering it with her black coffee, and because she was feeling extra mischievous that day, she asked the barista to drizzle some caramel sauce on top of the whipped cream.
Clary had to bite her lip to suppress her giggles at the face Alec made when she came back to their table, setting her mug of black coffee and a dozen sugar packets next to her, and placing the creamy, blended beverage in front of him.
“What the hell is this?” Alec asked, and that was all Clary could take. She immediately started laughing loudly. The barista at the front jumped at the noise. Alec, on the other hand, did not look amused. “I thought you said this was a coffee place? This looks like a milkshake.”
Her giggles subsiding, Clary nodded in agreement. “It kind of is? It’s the coffee equivalent of a milkshake — it still has caffeine in it.” Alec continued to look warily at the caramel and whipped cream swirled on top. “Try it. It’s delicious, I promise.”
He still looked suspicious, but slowly Alec raised the glass and brought the straw to his lips. Clary could tell the moment the taste hit Alec’s tongue, because his eyes immediately lit up in surprise and delight, setting Clary off on another round of giggles.
“Shut up,” he said, but he continued to drink.
“Oh my god,” Clary said once she had settled down. “You big softy. You like sweet drinks!”
Alec scowled at her. “Why are you so shocked? You’re the one who bought it. Did you get this for me assuming I wouldn’t like it?”
Clary raised her hands in surrender while she shook a sugar packet to tear and pour into her mug. “Hey, you said you didn’t like the taste of regular coffee.”
Alec shook his head, but Clary could see the beginnings of a smirk forming at the corner of his lips.
After that, it became a sort of tradition between them. Once a week, they would each break away from their duties at the Institute to have coffee at the café together. They traded off on who bought the drinks, but their orders were always the same — a black coffee with extra sugar for Clary, and a frappe with caramel drizzle for Alec.
No one ever questioned where either of them went, funny enough. Clary was well-known as a loose cannon to the other shadowhunters by that point, so no one was surprised when she would suddenly disappear for a few hours at a time. As much as she resented her reputation, she could admit that it was useful in this situation. As for Alec, his case was almost the opposite. A disciplined soldier, no one ever even entertained the idea that he could be going off for something that wasn't shadowhunter business. They figured he was either gone for work, or he was with Magnus, but either way no one questioned his whereabouts.
And certainly, no one would ever think that Clary and Alec were leaving to hang out together. That was preposterous. Clary and Alec weren’t friends.
But there it was.
The two of them actually ended up making some good memories together in that little café. It was in that little café, about a month after they started meeting there, when Clary confided in Alec that she was into women the same way she was into men. Actually, she was into one specific woman at the moment — Alec’s sister.
“Izzy? My Izzy?” Alec said with wide eyes, setting his nearly empty frappe on their table with a thunk.
Clary nodded, looking miserable. “You know, your Lightwood genes are insane. It’s really not fair. She’s just… she’s so pretty. And so smart, and funny, she cares so much about other people.”
“Telling me what I already know, Fray,” Alec replied, but a proud smile graced his lips at her words of praise for his sister.
Clary slumped in her seat, idly stirring her lukewarm coffee. “The world is cruel, Alec. Why does she have to be straight?”
“What makes you think Izzy is straight?”
Clary sat up in her seat at that. “Uh, because she talks about boys all the time? I’ve only ever seen her with men before.”
Alec stared at her like she was missing something huge. “Yeah, but she also…” He trailed off, a slow realization forming on his face. Suddenly, Alec started chuckling, and his laughter grew and grew until it was wild, tears leaking out of his eyes. Clary was almost concerned for the man. “Oh, you…” He tried to say, still giggling, wiping some tears away. “You are such an idiot, Fray. You’re more oblivious than I am.”
Clary didn’t know what was going on, but was pretty sure she should be offended. “What are you talking about?”
Alec tried to calm down, some snickers still getting through every few seconds. Finally, he took a deep breath and spoke. “Izzy has had an enormous crush on you for forever. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to console her because she was sure you weren’t interested. She only talks about boys so much at the Institute to keep up her image and to save face in front of you.”
“But…” Clary trailed off, not sure where she was going. She was in shock.
“You’re telling me you seriously never thought twice about how she looks at you during your deep conversations at night? You never questioned the numerous times she has gone out of her way to make you happy?”
The redhead was overwhelmed by this revelation. Clary had cherished all of those moments Alec was talking about, but she had never once paused to consider what they meant to Izzy. “I… I didn’t…”
Alec laughed again. “Oh my god. Go.”
“What?”
“Get out of here,” Alec said. When Clary remained frozen, he huffed and leaned forward to glare at her, but there was no malice in his gaze. “Seriously, Fray. If you don’t get your ass out of that seat right now to go tell my sister how you feel about her, I will replace all your sugar packets with salt the next time we come here, I swear.”
The joking threat was enough to get Clary to move. In a flash, she was hurrying out of the café, yelling “Thanks Alec!” over her shoulder.
The next morning, Clary and Izzy walked into the briefing room of the Institute hand in hand, and Alec just smiled at the shocked looks on everyone’s faces.
While they were in that little café, Clary and Alec realized they shared a favorite pastime — making fun of Brooklyn boys putting the moves on Brooklyn girls.
“Ten bucks says he gets that girl’s number.”
“I’ll take that bet,” Alec said, sipping his frappe. “She’s clearly about to throw her iced tea in his face.”
“Tsk, tsk, you really know nothing about women do you, Alec?”
Alec shot her a deadpan look. “Well, I am gay, so there’s that.”
Clary giggled and leaned toward him, as if she was going to let him in on a juicy secret. “Women love the whole suave, brooding vibe this guy is giving off,” Clary said, gesturing to the way the man was leaning against the counter where the woman was seated. “I’d say he is one good pick-up line away from — ”
Clary was cut off by the sight of the woman pouring her drink over the man’s head. The man sputtered, and with one final glare, the woman stalked out of the café. Clary sat there gaping at the scene. Then she turned to find Alec smirking at her, hand outstretched.
Grumbling, Clary dug through her purse and smacked a ten dollar bill into his hand. Alec snickered. “I’ve seen Jace strike out with enough women to know what that dude’s chances were.”
It was in that little café that Clary witnessed Alec Lightwood’s epiphany that he was in love with Magnus Bane.
“Don’t look now, but there is a group of women to your right who are all blatantly checking you out right now.”
Alec rolled his eyes. “What a shame for them.”
“One of them just glared at me. Do you think they think we’re together?” Clary asked, making a disgusted face at the image in her head.
Alec matched her expression. “Please, I do have standards, you know.”
Clary tried to look offended through her amusement. “Excuse you! You could do a lot worse, Lightwood.”
Alec scoffed. “No offense, Fray, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t be doing any better than I am right now.” Alec looked like he was about to continue, but nothing came out of his mouth. Slowly, the smirk dropped off his face and was replaced by a look of dawning realization and a little bit of horror.
“Alec?” Clary asked, getting worried now. “Alec? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“I love him,” Alec breathed so softly Clary could barely hear it. When his words registered with her, Clary sat back in her seat and let out a sigh of relief, happy it wasn’t something worse.
“Just figuring that out, huh?”
Alec still looked alarmed. “Oh my god, I’m in love with him. I’ve never been in love with anyone before. What do I do with that, Clary? I don’t know what to do!”
Clary was taken aback by Alec’s use of her first name. He only ever did that when things were serious. “Alec, calm down. It’s not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal?”
“Well, sure, it’s important, but it’s nothing to get so freaked out over.” She leaned forward and grabbed both of his hands where they were fidgeting restlessly against the table. “Listen, Alec, it’s okay. This is a good thing. You’re in love with Magnus, and Magnus is in love with you — ”
“But you don’t know that, though!” Alec interrupted, whispering urgently at her. “Magnus has been alive for centuries. He’s probably been in love with so many people who were better than I could ever hope to be — geniuses, poets, monarchs… Why would he — ”
It was Clary’s turn to interrupt Alec now. “Stop it, Alec. Stop thinking that you’ll never be worthy of Magnus. Magnus loves you. He’s probably loved you for a long time now, even if he hasn’t said it yet. It’s totally obvious to everyone who isn’t you. We see how he looks at you, and how you look at him, and so many people are fucking jealous of the two of you. Because they want what the two of you have together, and not many people actually get to have that. So please, stop doubting it. Stop doubting yourself.”
The two of them were silent for a long time. Slowly, Clary saw the panic drain from Alec’s eyes, and he nodded weakly.
“Are you okay?” She asked.
Alec nodded again, stronger this time. “Yeah. Thank you.”
Alec was still fidgeting, but Clary noticed it was a different type of restlessness that had taken over. It was less out of fear and more out of impatience. She smirked knowingly. “You want to go see Magnus right now, don’t you?”
“What- I mean…”
“Go.”
Alec didn’t need telling twice. He bolted out of the café, leaving his half-finished frappe behind.
In that little café one morning, Clary was starting to get worried, because Alec was now ten minutes late.
Alec was never late. He was always right on time or a few minutes early. He and Clary had been having coffee enough times by now for her to know that the shadowhunter had a pattern, and today he was breaking it. There had to be a reason.
Just as she was about to call him, Alec burst through the front door of the café, breathing heavily. He quickly found where she was seated and walked over to her. “I’m so sorry I’m late. I actually can’t stay long. Magnus has had a really bad week. I’m just here to get him something and to let you know.”
Clary smiled and stood from her chair. “That’s totally fine, Alec,” she said as they walked over to the counter to order. When Alec asked for two frappes with caramel drizzle to-go, she raised her eyebrows at him.
“What?” He shrugged defensively. “Magnus deserves something that delicious after the week he’s had.”
Clary giggled and shook her head. “It’s not that, it’s just… I guess I won’t be the only one who knows about your committed relationship to blended drinks anymore. It was fun while it lasted,” she sighed wistfully.
Alec shot her an amused glare. “Don’t be too upset, Fray, it’s not a good look on you.” The barista called Alec’s name, and he walked up to grab the two plastic cups placed on the counter. “Same time next week, right?” Clary nodded, and Alec took a step toward the front door, but he paused and turned back to her. “Look, Clary, I really am sorry again for — ”
“Alec, it’s fine, honestly. Now quit apologizing and go see your man!” Clary said with a genuine grin on her face.
Alec gave her a small smile in response. Then, he shocked her and gave Clary a quick kiss on the forehead before he hurried out of the shop in the direction of Magnus’ loft.
Clary smiled to herself, and she found that she was perfectly okay with drinking her black coffee with extra sugar on her own this week.